A rumor that circulated online in August 2025 claimed a video showed a cross catching on fire during a Mass service at St. Michael's Church in Dallas, Texas. The clip's narrator said the incident occurred weeks earlier, on June 15.
For example, on Aug. 11, a manager of the Daily Faith Ministry YouTube channel posted the video (archived) allegedly showing the large cross, affixed to the wall behind the altar, catching on fire during a church service. The clip's title read "A Cross Caught Fire During Mass in Dallas!!" Daily Faith Ministry also shared the video on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and TikTok (archived), collectively receiving around 5.5 million views. A reverse-image search found several other users also shared the clip on the same platforms.
The video's narrator told the story as follows:
A giant cross suddenly ignited, forming a human silhouette in the middle of mass.
It was June 15th, 2025, at 10:37 a.m. in St. Michael's Church, Dallas, Texas. Security cameras captured everything, with over 80 people present. The wooden altar began smoking at its base without explanation. By the 12th second of the video, flames burst from within, climbing rapidly and wrapping the entire cross.
We from the Daily Faith Ministry are here to show you something extraordinary. For less than 3 seconds, the flames shaped a human figure with outstretched arms, like the crucified Christ. Then, the fire vanished, leaving no burn marks. Firefighters found the cross intact. Some call it coincidence. But in Luke 21:11, Jesus spoke of great signs from heaven. Could this be one of them?
However, the video displayed numerous signs someone created the clip with an artificial-intelligence tool. For example, several shots of the sanctuary displayed differences in the size of the cross, including the statue representing Jesus Christ visible on the cross prior to the fire. Also, as the video continually switches shots, there were differences in chandeliers, columns, items affixed to columns and statues below the cross. Several other factors proved someone fabricated the story, as well.
Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo located no news media outlets — including those based in Dallas — reporting about a cross bursting into flames in Dallas in 2025. Had such an incident occurred, and had someone captured the moment on video, outlets worldwide would have reported the stunning development. Also, the video's narrator — a voice resembling AI-generated voices featured in past fact checks — said "security cameras captured everything." However, the only view of the alleged fire showed the perspective from a parishioner's handheld camera or smartphone, and no footage from security cameras.
Further, the narrator said the fire occurred at a church named St. Michael's Church in Dallas. A search for a church in Dallas matching that name found only Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. As confirmed by a photo (archived) hosted on the church's Facebook page, Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church has a sanctuary that does not match the appearance of the one shown in the AI-generated video.
Snopes emailed Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church to ask about the claim and will update this article if we receive further information.
Looking for the original post
One of the earliest postings of the video, if not the original post, appeared in a clip (archived) on the @retolamysusnoticias TikTok account on July 20. That video, receiving over 11.7 million views, featured a puppet, as well as a Spanish-language narrator telling basically the same fabricated story later appearing in English in the Daily Faith Ministry clip. The Daily Faith Ministry's video displays only the top of the puppet's head, showing @retolamysusnoticias' post served as the basis for whoever edited other elements on top of the puppet. A caption appearing in the clip claimed, without providing evidence, that the Vatican demanded to know how the fire started.
The @retolamysusnoticias TikTok account also featured other AI-generated videos showing a man turning into a goat, a lion walking the street in Detroit, scientists finding the city of Atlantis and an exorcism, among others. We reached out to a manager for the account to ask questions, including inquiring about the AI tool they used to create their clips. We will update this story if we receive details.
For further reading, another fact-check investigated a story claiming a drifter named Ronald McDonald murdered 12 children in 1892, inspiring the modern-day McDonald's fast-food chain mascot of the same name.