theI recently published an article over at The Forge talking about recent rumors and allegations swirling around the tangled 'web alleging that Pope Leo (Fr. Robert Prevost, at the time) participated in a pagan ritual during an Augustinian symposium in Brazil in the mid-1990s.

The key player in this rumor-mill, as always, is LifeSite News ("Lie Site" News). The article is my personal commentary and interpretation of the so-called "evidence" and I don't lean to heavily on Lie Site News in it. But this segment here directly addresses their analysis, and I explain why this "evidence" not only isn't at all strong enough to confidently push an idolatry claim against the Pope, it actually gives us evidence of Lie Site News's dishonesty, lack of integrity, and incompetence.

Link to the full article at The Forge, or keep reading this segment right here.

Branding a Pope an Idolater Needs More ‘Evidence’ than a Photograph
A picture doesn’t always speak a thousand words. Sometimes it’s mute. A Serious Charge Against Pope Leo (Then Fr. Prevost) Requires Better Proof than a Fuzzy Picture
The ForgeT.J. Haines

A Picture Speaks: My Analysis 

LifeSiteNews claims it “confirmed” that the man in the photo is Pope Leo, by comparing it to another photograph. It doesn't convince me at all! Let's have a look and break this down.

But the man in the photo below—who does appear to be Fr. Prevost—appears to be wearing an undershirt beneath his collared shirt, and his sleeves don’t go past his elbows, where the man in the previous photo (we’ll call it the “kneeling” photo) has no undershirt, and his sleeves appear to be much longer, easily reaching his left elbow despite appearing to be hiked up a bit.

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