No truth to claim that Pope Leo XIV was a jazz musician

Jazz fans may be disappointed to learn that newly elected Pope Leo XIV never moonlighted as trombone player "Bobby Prev" in his hometown of Chicago, contrary to social media posts sharing a supposed image of him playing the instrument. His older brother told AFP the rumours are false, and the picture comes from a musician who said he fabricated it using AI.

"Pope Leo XIV is an artist, a jazz musician," says a May 9, 2025 post on Facebook.

It shares a screenshot of a post that purports to show an image of the new pontiff playing a musical instrument. The caption claims that before becoming pope, he "led a surprising double life: acclaimed theologian by day, and celebrated jazz trombonist by night."

The post goes on to describe him as having headlined jazz festivals in his hometown of Chicago during the 1970s and 80s under the alias "Bobby Prev" -- a reference to his birth name Robert Francis Prevost -- and claims he still keeps a trombone in his Vatican apartment.

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Screenshot of false post taken May 10, 2025

The claim spread across social media after cardinals from around the globe elected 69-year-old Prevost, an Augustinian missionary, as the new leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics (archived link).

He made history as the first pope from the United States, hailing from the Midwestern city of Chicago before he eventually found his calling among the poor and marginalised in Peru, where he obtained citizenship in 2015 (archived links here and here).

Little was known about the new pontiff when he stepped onto the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, but several notable facts have since emerged -- among them, that he studied math in college, is a fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team, plays tennis and is known as "Father Bob" by people who know him personally (archived links here and here).

But the claim that he used to be a jazz musician has no basis in fact.

"That’s news to me. We heard that claim, and was like, what? Who were they talking to?" the pope's older brother, Louis Prevost, told AFP at his home in Port Charlotte, Florida on May 9.

"No, I don’t believe so. Unless he had a secret life we don’t know about."

Work of AI

Keyword searches on Facebook show the claim originally appeared in a May 8 post from a user named Eric Schedin, whose profile indicates he plays and teaches jazz. 

The post appears to have been made in jest with the help of an AI chatbot. 

In response to a user who questioned the basis for his post, noting that "a quick Google" search yielded no such information, Schedin replied "ChatGPT", adding it was "easy to prompt".

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Screenshot of original poster's comments taken May 10, 2025

Reverse image searches on Google did not yield any credible source for the image of the man playing a trombone, whose features do not resemble the new pontiff.

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Image comparison between the original joke post (L) and an AFP photo of the pope

Schedin also posted another image of a pope playing a musical instrument that bears signs of AI (archived link). 

Pope Leo XIV’s biography from Vatican News does not mention a background in music, let alone playing as a jazz musician in Chicago during the 1970s and 1980s -- a period he mostly spent pursuing religious studies and mission work outside of his hometown (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about Pope Leo XIV.