As news of the death of Pope Francis on April 21, 2025, spread worldwide, many remembered his younger years when he was a cardinal in Argentina. A photo spread on Reddit and X, claiming to show a younger Francis riding the subway in Argentina.
Many of these X and Reddit posts claimed the photograph was taken in 1998:
(Reddit user "djtmalta00")
The above photograph is authentic. However, it was taken in 2008, not 1998, and showed a young Francis, who was then known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, riding the subway in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We thus rate this claim as miscaptioned.
The original photograph was taken by photographer Pablo Leguizamon for The Associated Press (AP) in 2008. The image was available in APs' online database with the caption:
In this 2008 file photo, Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, second from left, rides the subway in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bergoglio, who became pope in 2013 and took the name Francis, was known for taking the train. Cardinal Bergoglio never followed the footsteps of so many fellow Roman Catholic leaders of his rank, who sought to raise their profiles, along with funds for missions back home, by networking within the deeply influential and well-resourced U.S. church. (AP Photo/Pablo Leguizamon, File)
Getty Images' database also had more photographs from that day and that specific train ride. According to the captions, Francis was traveling on the underground train prior to the celebration of the traditional Te Deum mass — a religious service involving singing hymns of thanksgiving — on May 25, 2008. The Getty Images photographs, which were taken by photographer Emiliano Lasalvia, stated in the captions:
Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio takes the Line A of the underground prior to the celebration of the traditional Tedeum mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral on May 25, 2008 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Emiliano Lasalvia/LatinContent via Getty Images)
(Emiliano Lasalvia/LatinContent/Getty Images)
(Emiliano Lasalvia/LatinContent/Getty Images)
This photograph shows Francis conversing with the same man in glasses seated on his left, as seen in The Associated Press picture.
(Emiliano Lasalvia/LatinContent/Getty Images)
Soon after Francis gained the title, a 2013 article in the Miami Herald described him as a "pauper pope." The story detailed how before he became pope, the people of Buenos Aires were used to seeing the "dry-witted cardinal riding the subway, preaching in slums and ministering to the country's marginalized."
In the 2013 biography "Francis: Pope of a New World," by the editorial director for the Vatican media, Andrea Tornelli, the chapter "A Cardinal on the Subway" shares a personal anecdote of Francis taking the train in Buenos Aires (emphasis ours):
Anyone acquainted with Padre Bergoglio knows how important the personal relationship is for him, the personal encounter, attention to the person. One of his anecdotes helps us to understand this better. As Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, he had to travel one day to conduct a series of spiritual exercises in a convent outside the city, and he had to take the train. As the hour drew near, he left his office in the archbishop's chancery to go pray for a few minutes in the cathedral. As he was leaving, a young man who appeared to be psychologically disturbed approached to ask him whether he could hear his confession. The young man spoke as though he were drunk, probably under the influence of some drug.
"I, the witness to the Gospel, who was engaged in the apostolate, told him: 'Soon a priest will arrive, and you can confess to him, because I have to do something else.' " Bergoglio knew that that priest would arrive a short time later. "I walked away, but after a few steps, I felt tremendous shame. I retraced my steps and told the young man, 'The priest is going to be late; I will hear your confession.' After hearing his confession, I brought him to Our Lady to ask her to protect him. Finally I went to the station, thinking I had missed the train. When I arrived, I realized there had been a delay and, so, I managed to take the train as planned. [...]
For Bergoglio, the delayed train had been a "sign from the Lord that told me: 'You see that I am directing the story.' How often in life it is better to slow down and not try to settle everything at once!" It is necessary to have patience, not to claim to have a solution for everything, and to "put into perspective the mystique of efficiency".
This section from the book was published as an excerpt by The Catholic World Report alongside a 2008 Reuters image of Francis conversing with the same man on the train, albeit shot from a different angle. That particular photograph was taken by Diego Fernandez Otero for Argentinian newspaper, Clarin.
Snopes has covered numerous rumors about Francis, including whether he "requested" marriage rights for Catholic priests (a mixture of true and false) and whether he once called transgender people "children of God" (correct attribution). A compilation of all the rumors Snopes covered about Francis can be found here.
In sum, the above photograph authentically shows a younger Francis on the train in Argentina. However, numerous online posts miscaptioned it as being from 1998, when it was really shot in 2008 and showed the then-cardinal on his way to a traditional mass.