Father Spadaro's hoax on Leo XIV - "a masterpiece of self-promotion worthy of a true influencer"
Thanks to Luis Badilla for the news of the fake interview of Father Spadaro, Francis's protégé, with Archbishop Prevost
The Jesuit Antonio Spadaro, Francis's "writer," is now trying to accredit himself as an "interpreter" of the new Pope as well, posting a supposed interview with then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost. A publishing fraud?
"La Stampa" of July 23 presented the article announcing an alleged interview with the American cardinal who became Leo XIV as follows: "From the apostle of mercy to the missionary of peace. The interview given by then-Cardinal Robert F. Prevost on August 7, 2024, at the parish of St. Jude, in New Lenox, Illinois (of which we publish a portion) is contained in Antonio Spadaro's book "From Francis to Leo" (EDB), in bookstores starting July 31. It will be presented on August 28 at the Benevento Città Spettacolo Festival." (Agi)
The newspaper "La Stampa" openly speaks of an "interview between Cardinal Prevost and Father Spadaro," which is entirely false. To date, only the publisher of the book amplifying the alleged interview (EDB - Alberto Melloni) has responded to the criticism, but in indecipherable language without denying anything.
Spadaro's posts from July 14
A few days ago, the Undersecretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education, Fr. Spadaro, posted ambiguous texts on his X account about the interview with Prevost, without ever specifying the origin and circumstances of the alleged questions interspersed in a transcript of an address by then-Cardinal Prevost. Here:
*** The book is already available for pre-order here.... The appendix includes two valuable texts by #Bergoglio—a preface and a homily—on Saint Augustine - Antonio Spadaro
*** My reflections on the passing of the baton between #PopeFrancis and #PopeLeoXIV are forthcoming, along with an interview with Prevost on today's Church and its connection with Francis. The book is already available for pre-order here... - Antonio Spadaro
An account of the event.
The revelation comes from the website Dagospia (July 23) and several other social media, which briefly recounts, with video and photographic documentation, an incredible editorial operation by Jesuit Antonio Spadaro and his publisher Alberto Melloni. In a new book due out July 31, Melloni attempts—or rather, retries—to inform the world that there is absolute continuity between Bergoglio and Prevost. The arguments are the same old, repetitive phrases, even with other figures implicated at other times, with an addition presented maliciously and ambiguously by both the Jesuit and his publisher (EDB – formerly Dehoniane). Here's the operation.
The newspaper "La Stampa" published an article commemorating the Jesuit father's recent book and offered several excerpts from the volume, presenting them as an interview between Spadaro and then-Cardinal Prevost. The article, at least, consists of answers to specific questions (actually, those asked by Father Ray Flores and Mr. Frank at the St. Jude parish in August 2024), and therefore a dialogue between the interviewee and the interviewer. But it's all so false that it's clear that all parties involved have deliberately created confusion and misdirection today, to hide the true facts.
Manipulation of a transcript recorded in the USA
Prevost's "answers"—to supposedly arbitrarily but poorly interspersed questions—are excerpts from the American cardinal's conference in the United States on August 7, 2024. The Italian newspaper "La Stampa" presents the article with this title: "Pope Leo XIV. Fight against clerical abuse and a Church closer to the faithful. Now we must forgive the debt of poor countries."
Dagospia, which links to the full video of Prevost's conference (2 hours and 9 minutes), writes on its website: "Flash! - Spadaro on fire! The Jesuit, orphaned by Bergoglio, today in "La Stampa," passes off as his "unpublished interview" an old public conversation that then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost held in New Lenox, Illinois, on August 7, 2020. The imaginative Jesuit took the transcribed text and interspersed it with his own questions: a masterpiece of self-promotion worthy of a true influencer..."
Jesuit Antonio Spadaro, for many years the Director of "La Civiltà Cattolica" (from 2011 to 2023), has been undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education since January 1, 2024. His Wikipedia profile also notes that he is "a journalist, theologian, priest, and literary critic." Spadaro was one of Pope Bergoglio's closest collaborators, essentially serving as his most trusted editorial consultant. The fame and prestige of this Jesuit priest is entirely tied to the pontificate of Francis, who appointed him undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.
Obviously, a furore erupted within hours, also because this operation borders on fraud, as seen years ago when two Vatican journalists, Andrea Monda and Alessandro Gisotti, did the same thing with Francis to pass off a text by the pontiff as the first papal interview with the Osservatore Romano (January 13, 2022). The text focused on Saint Joseph, apparently intended as a preface to a book on the relationship between Joseph and parenthood, not written by the Pope, which was interspersed with questions, in a spectacularly clumsy manner.
Denials, clarifications, and shoddy tricks.
The protagonists of the affair (Fr. Spadaro, EDB/Alberto Melloni, and La Stampa), faced with the scandal and widespread criticism, particularly of Spadaro, who was deemed too subjective in his account of Francis's pontificate, modulating many facts with complete arbitrariness, decided on July 23 to publish a clarification so manipulative that it exposed the falsehoods denounced.
The statement from EDB (Edizioni Dehoniane Bologna) states:
"Bologna, July 23, 2025 - The EDB publishing house clarifies that the interview with Cardinal Prevost contained in the book From Francis to Leo by Father Antonio Spadaro, released on July 31, an excerpt of which is being published today by a newspaper, corresponds to the transcript of a spontaneous conversation held by Cardinal Prevost on August 7, 2024, at the Augustinian parish of St. Jude in New Lenox, Illinois. With this clarification, the publishing house absolves the author from any responsibility for any misunderstanding arising from less than fully clear communications between the newspaper and the publishing house. The EDB publishing house therefore believes it is important to transparently clarify the origin and nature of the text, in order to ensure its correct interpretation."
All these words and big words to never tell the truth. It should have been simply written: What was presented as an unpublished interview with Cardinal Prevost is not true. Prevost's statement is false because it is a transcript of his conference in Illinois on August 7, 2024, to which fake questions were added afterward. We apologize for the deception.
What need is there to continue using and applying these methods?
Why does a certain Italian press so readily lend itself to spreading operations that constitute outright fraud on readers?
Why give such prominence to a mess like this one involving Spadaro and Melloni?
In itself, the story is a banal and rather idiotic tale. Self-centered and commercial promotions almost always have these flaws or risks.
Its relevance stems from the recent context: the end of a pontificate and the choice of a new Pope, thus the transition from Francis to Leo, which Spadaro calls the "passing of the baton." In this recess of modern history, many people, both lay and clergy, have lingered and nestled who have served Pope Bergoglio, doing so in servile ways that ultimately damaged the image of the Pontiff himself. In this way, whether because of the Pope's personality or the character traits of individuals—and this also concerns a majority of the press—a set of mechanisms has developed that have obscured the truth of many facts and circumstances.
The profound and ultimate truths of Bergoglio's papacy, from the media's perspective, will remain gigantic black holes for many years. In practice, it is impossible, and will remain so for decades, to distinguish the truth of the facts, documents, and intentions of Pope Bergoglio from what the press, his Santa Marta press office, told the public and the Church itself.
The Spadaro-Melloni crime is yet another piece of evidence that confirms what we have been saying even after the death of Pope Francis.
The stagecoach robbery.
On the one hand, an unpleasant, unnecessary servility, offered only out of obsequiousness, uncritical and self-referential, and on the other, a media compulsion that forced the papal day to be experienced with sensationalism and inconsistent emphasis, led to the formation of a legend that today, deprived of its center, struggles to survive. These proponents of the "Francis the icon," instead of seeking out and highlighting brilliant, original, epochal, and promising moments from the 12-year Argentine pontificate, essentially think only of themselves, their status and fame, their prestige, and their money.
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