Video of several large Palestinian flags is not from Pope’s funeral

A video is being shared on social media alongside claims implying it shows people waving Palestinian flags at Pope Francis’s funeral.

But this footage actually dates back to December 2023—more than a year before the Pope died. 

The video shows several members of a large crowd waving Palestinian flags in St Peter’s Square, a plaza located directly in front of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

It has been shared with captions such as “Palestinian flags at Pope Francis’ funeral today”. 

Using reverse image search Full Fact traced nearly identical footage to posts on X (formerly Twitter) from 25 December 2023 captioned “Palestinian flags in full display on Christmas Day in St. Peter’s Square, Rome” and “crowds in the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square showed solidarity for Palestine during Christmas Day on Monday”. 

Some people on the left of the frame are wearing Santa hats—a clue the footage was filmed around Christmas, rather than April, when the Pope’s funeral took place. 

Other videos and pictures taken on the same day show similar scenes, and several news reports also mention the presence of Palestinian flags at the Christmas 2023 address. 

Pope Francis died on 21 April 2025, aged 88. His funeral took place on 26 April 2025. 

Although there are some reports of the Palestinian flag being held by members of the crowd during the Pope’s funeral, the video being shared on social media is more than a year old, and was filmed before Pope Francis died. 

We have previously fact checked a number of misleading claims about Pope Francis. Before sharing content that you see on social media, it’s important to consider whether what you are seeing is accurate. Our guide to identifying misleading videos has tips to help you navigate and identify bad information online.