ROCHESTER, Minn. — Can you believe that southern Minnesota’s Catholic bishop has gone online with advice for cleansing demons from your toilet? Don’t. The post was one of several faked to show Bishop Robert Barron making absurd assertions of things he never said. They are deepfake posts created with AI technology. The bishop doesn’t know source of the perversity but has alerted his followers to ignore profiles purporting to be his if they that don’t have an authenticating blue check. Also, said the bishop: “Use your common sense.” Among absurdities:
> Pope Leo XIV has summoned the bishop to the Vatican to hash out areas of disagreement.
> The bishop got into a fist fight at a Chicago restaurant.
Barron is a celebrity target for his “Word on Fire” site, whose daily comments on spiritual issues have 3.1 million followers on Facebook and 1.6 million on YouTube. About the deepfake videos, Barron is not amused: “They are not harmless fun.” They are libels intended to damage his reputation as well as vehicles to channel viewers to advertising, he said.
Barron. His daily homies online have millions of followers.
Verbatim
Barron: “These are fraudsters. What they are doing is making money off of these things because they can monetize them through ads.”
Earlier: “Word on Fire” priest installed as bishop