The Pope Passed A Peaceful Night

About

The Pope Passed a Peaceful Night refers to memes and jokes inspired by a poorly phrased tweet reporting on Pope Francis's health conditions by various news outlets in February 2025. Pope Francis was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs that month, after which the Vatican put out a statement that said, "Pope Francis […] passed a peaceful night." Many news outlets borrowed the Vatican's phrasing, leading to numerous internet users misreading the headlines to mean that Pope Francis had passed away. This led to memes and jokes about the oddly phrased tweet, with many internet users making their own versions as memes.

Origin

Pope Francis was admitted to a clinic in Rome on February 14th, 2025, and diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs after a later CT scan.^[1] On February 18th, the Vatican morning bulletin said, "The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting."^[2]

Several news outlets borrowed the Vatican's phrasing, as seen in a February 19th, 2025, post by the Twitter^[3] / X account @rtenews, which read, "Pope Francis, who has been diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs, passed a 'peaceful night,' the Vatican has said, amid growing concerns over the 88-year-old's condition." The post gathered over 5,700 likes in five days.

Several internet users criticized RTÉ News's use of the word "passed" in the context of the Pope suffering a critical illness, with X^[4] user @yaynarcissism writing on February 19th, "It's like they heard he was still alive mid headline," gathering over 90,000 likes in five days.

Spread

On February 19th, 2025, X^[5] user @sweetseaslug quoted RTÉ News with a scene from The Simpsons in which the character Lisa wakes up her parents saying, "Mom, Dad, Bart's dead," only for Bart to appear and say, "Dead serious about going to Itchy and Scratchy Land."

On February 20th, Bluesky^[6] user @matttomic edited the Simpsons gag to comment on AFP News using the word "passed" in its news headlines about the Pope's health, gathering over 13,000 likes in four days.

Other internet users compared the headline to a gag from the television show Arrested Development in which a doctor informs his patient's family about the health of their relative using misleading words. X^[8] user @joshcarlosjosh posted a four-panel edit of the joke on February 20th, gathering over 50,000 likes in four days.

On February 21st, 2025, X^[7] user @aethelfleds quoted a post by @CatholicSat that read, "The night passed peacefully. This morning Pope Francis got up and had breakfast," writing, "Hospital confirms the Pope is 'no longer with us' as he was discharged this morning in good health," and gathering over 300,000 likes in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References