3 days ago
Fact Check: Photo of Pope John Paul II playing baseball isn't what it seems
Claim:
Photograph authentically shows Pope John Paul II playing baseball.
Rating:
Context:
The photograph taken in 1996 shows Gene Greytak, a man who impersonated Pope John Paul II.
In July 2025, a photo circulated online that claimed to show Pope John Paul II playing baseball. The picture appears to show the former pope, who died in 2005, in his papal robes while swinging a baseball bat.
(X user @PraytheRosary12)
While the photograph is real, it does not show Pope John Paul II. The man playing baseball was Gene Greytak, an American real estate broker who became famous as a papal impersonator. As such, we rate this claim as miscaptioned.
Using Google's reverse image search tool, we traced the photograph to a Los Angeles Times obituary of Greytak, who died in 2010. It was taken by Rick Silva for The Associated Press in 1996 and showed Greytak participating in the New York Mets' fantasy baseball camp.
Greytak made appearances at numerous international venues, including at a hotel in Budapest, Hungary:
(Wikimedia Commons)
He even appeared in an episode of "Golden Girls" titled "The Pope's Ring":
Per the obituary, Greytak's resemblance to the pope made him into a minor celebrity and he made appearances on film and television as a result. As a Catholic, he did not want to do anything inappropriate while impersonating the pope and the Los Angeles Archdiocese even told him his performances did not violate any canon law.
"Pope John Paul II Dies | April 2, 2005." HISTORY, 24 Nov. 2009, Accessed 9 July 2025.
"The Pope's Ring." The Golden Girls, directed by Lex Passaris, 14 Dec. 1991. Accessed 9 July 2025.
Thursby, Keith. "Gene Greytak Dies at 84; Retired Real Estate Broker Became Papal Impersonator." Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2010, Accessed 9 July 2025.
