After the appointment of Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost, Wikipedia editors hurriedly updated his page. This led to a typographical error in the title and confusion with duplicate sections, resulting in the erroneous creation of “Pope Leon XIIV.” Editors found themselves in frequent disputes over how to properly address his nationality, considering both his American and Peruvian citizenship.
Shortly after Prevost was put forward as a candidate, initial discussions centered on troubling allegations concerning past sexual abuse. I even noticed some rough edits on the Wikipedia page of Pope Francis following his death in April.
Prevost was officially introduced as the new Pope on May 8th, taking the name Leo XIV. This announcement drove significant traffic to his Wikipedia page, with around 7.5 million views recorded on the day of the announcement. According to an analysis of Wikipedia spikes, this marked one of the highest traffic days for articles concerning living individuals, exceeding even those of famous persons at the time of their passing. A blog post noted that the new page saw over 1,000 edits by midnight, with activity peaking at ten edits per minute.
The very first edit to Prevost’s existing Wikipedia page aimed to change it to reflect his papal title. However, an editor mistakenly created a “Pope Leo Xiiv” page containing incorrect data. This title alone drew approximately 250,000 views. Another editor then added erroneous data to the InfoBox at the top of the page. There were several mistakes initially spotted, and I faced issues when trying to correct the title.
Complicating matters was the existence of a previous entry for Pope Leo XIV, as another incorrect title had been assigned. An administrator had to step in and execute a “Round Robin Swap” to move the article to the right title. However, confusion continued, as new articles under the incorrect title kept being created by other contributors. Subsequently, various users attempted to rename entries incorrectly, generating confusion akin to a new Pope discussion. This version attracted about 10,000 views.
Editors engaged in discussions about the incorrect titles, labeling them as “incredible” blunders. Some pointed out that “Leon” could be viewed as a Spanish version of the name. It seemed that no one acknowledged the ongoing debate stemmed from previously established editors making such errors.
I also stumbled while editing the entry to add an image of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was in contention for the papal position. Although this was restored later, efforts to introduce other images were met with copyright issues, leading to additional disputes about appropriate visuals for the page.
Another common source of issues involved the “Current Event” banner that crops up when articles experience major updates. Within just minutes of the announcement, two editors had already added duplicate banners. Various users acted simultaneously, inadvertently deleting or restoring sections. I, myself, mistakenly deleted important mentions, contributing to the confusion.
Competing edits continued for nearly 20 minutes after the announcement. Significant typos, like “UnitedStatws,” and duplicate sections also popped up. Even after an administrator stepped in to restrict editing, unusual errors persisted due to the still-active community edits.
A recurring theme in the debates revolved around the depiction of Pope Leo XIV’s nationality. An editor with dual citizenship grappled extensively with how to articulate his identity in the introduction. This discussion has become quite fragmented, with a lengthy array of perspectives on his heritage currently available on the talk page. Many discussions point to him being labeled as the “first American Pope,” while others argue against defining him as such, emphasizing his identity from North America specifically.
Critiques of Prevost’s leadership have also sparked conflict, largely due to handling sexual abuse allegations linked to church officials. As these concerns emerged early on, information about decisions he made during his tenure also came under scrutiny.
These awkward responses quickly became familiar, echoing similar sentiments encountered during Pope Francis’s passing. Editors scrambled to make nearly 400 changes within just 15 hours of his death, marking the transition from present to past tense in his biography.
This approach to Wikipedia as a news source aligns with ongoing campaigns from the Wikimedia Foundation aimed at curbing misinformation. Nonetheless, incidents like misinformation and slip-ups persist, casting shadows over the platform’s credibility.
Edited by an anonymous contributor who faced bans after exposing conflicts of interest among administrators. This experience led to ongoing concerns over the treatment of critics within the Wikipedia editing community.
