Does this video show Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, crossing himself in a way that reminds of an upside-down cross, considered by some a symbol of Satan? No, that's not true: The Pope here is seen making a proper sign of the cross as it is used throughout Christian liturgies. In addition, the upside-down cross, also known as St. Peter's Cross or the Petrine Cross, is a Christian symbol.
On March 12, 2023, this claim appeared in a video (archived here) posted on the TikTok account barysh02. At the time of writing, the video had received thousands of likes. The text on the video states:
Notice how the Pope makes the sign of the cross. The upside down cross is the sign of Satan.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Apr 13 16:32:47 2023 UTC)
Some Tiktokers interpret the fact that Pope Francis does not completely reach his left and right shoulder as an alleged satanic symbol because the crossing seems to be closer to the bottom than the top. It is, though, fairly common to stop just short of touching the shoulders when making the sign of the cross.
According to the Latin rite, the sign of the cross is made by touching the forehead first, then the breast or stomach, and the shoulders, left to right. Pope Francis is shown in several videos making the gesture, such as here and here.
The Petrine Cross (or Cross of St. Peter) is associated with the papacy to reflect the Catholic belief that the Pope is the successor of the Apostle Peter as the first bishop of Rome. The Apostle Peter asked to be crucified upside down as a sign of humility: He did not consider himself worthy to die as Christ did.
Due to the religious crisis provoked by Russia's war with Ukraine, a conspiracy theory that the Pope represents a satanic (Western) force is hyped. In popular cultures, such as music and movies, the inverted cross can signify anti-Christian and Satanist sentiments or rebellion against social and political power in general. But there is no evidence that the Pope alluded to such a symbol in the above video.
