Be wary of social media posts claiming that long-running animated comedy “The Simpsons” made a correct prediction about Pope Francis in a “little-known” or “little-remembered” episode.
Social media users have falsely claimed that the show has correctly predicted Queen Elizabeth’s death, the Los Angeles wildfires, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, COVID-19 in obscure episodes. Now, posts are falsely saying that Francis’ April 21 death also was predicted in a forgotten episode.
“The Simpsons predicted Pope Francis’ death in 2025,” an April 21 TikTok video said. “In a little-known episode of The Simpsons, a misplaced coffin stands at the center of Saint Peter’s Basilica, surrounded by silent cardinals.”
“A Vatican flag flies at half mast, and in the background, a giant screen displays the exact time, 11:11,” the video said. “Meanwhile, Kent Brockman reports on the passing of the supreme pontiff, stating that the official cause of death is severe bronchitis.”
The claim that “The Simpsons” predicted Francis’ death has been circulating since the beginning of 2025 and originated on a satirical TikTok account that shares content generated with artificial intelligence.
Sign up for PolitiFact texts
The video in the post is not a real “The Simpsons” episode. Reverse image searches found that the video had been previously reposted by accounts that labeled the video as AI-generated.
The video shows Lisa Simpson with a book — which the video claims is “an old book with a chilling title, ‘The End of a Cycle 2025’”— yet the title is repeatedly misspelled and, in some clips, illegible. The video includes shots of the Vatican City and background characters, but are not in the same cartoonish style of show.
“The Pope,” not based on one particular leader of the Catholic Church, is a recurring character in “The Simpsons.” In episode 1 of season 31, which aired Sept. 29, 2019, the news anchor character Kent Brockman says that the pope died. However, the episode does not name the pope, say a cause of death or give a specific date. According to the Simpsons Wiki, a website with information about the show and its characters, the pope has not been mentioned again since this episode.
We rate the claim that an episode of “The Simpsons” predicted Francis’ death Pants on Fire!