Facebook has censored a Mexican cardinal by removing a video where he claims that coronavirus is part of a "new world order plot" and the vaccines are being used to implant satanic microchips in people. The social media giant removed the video by cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez of Guadalajara saying that it spread false and misinformation about the virus that could mislead people.
Sandoval also blasts Bill Gates in the video, saying that the Microsoft founder has given himself the attributes of a "prophet" by forecasting the outbreak of deadly diseases. Facebook put a warning screen over Sandoval's January 12 video, mentioning that the information about Covid-19 in the post is false as claimed by individual fact checkers.
Spreading Misinformation
On January 12, the 87-year-old cardinal posted a video titled 'Plot of a new world order', where he claimed that the pandemic will continue for several more years. "This pandemic won't end in a month or two months, perhaps not this year, perhaps not in three, four, five, six years. That's what these men want," he said.
However, he doesn't stop there. He goes on to slam the Microsoft founder accusing him of attributing himself the status of a "prophet" by forecasting the outbreak of the deadly virus. "It turns out, coincidentally, that a laboratory in Atlanta, of which Bill Gates is a benefactor, has a strain of smallpox, so we are prepared for this new pandemic," he said.
Facebook took notice of the post and immediately too action by making the video inaccessible and adding a warning that read: "This publication repeats information about COVID-19, which independent fact checkers indicated is false."
Not the First Time
A day later, Semanario Arquidiocesano Guadalajara — an information service operated by the Archdiocese of Guadalajara — posted a screenshot from the video on its Facebook page, along with the text, "Cardinal Juan Sandoval denounced the imposition of a new world order, hours later his video was censored." It also posted the video on its regular website, along with a story on its removal.
"We're not going to censor him or block him or anything like that," Fr. Antonio Gutiérrez Montaño, the spokesperson of archdiocesan said. "He doesn't speak in the name of the archdiocese. But the archdiocese is not going to censor him."
However, this isn't the first time that the cardinal has made such comments. According to the National catholic Reporter, Sandoval has been spreading misinformation about the virus through the pandemic. In his earlier comments he has publicly questioned health precautions such as closing businesses and canceling services. He has also minimized the impact of the illness and dispensed erroneous medical advice.
Sandoval was archbishop of Guadalajara for 17 years before retiring in 2011. He continued to espouse conservative viewpoints afterward, holding a "nationwide exorcism" after Mexico legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. He was also part of the papal conclaves that elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and Pope Francis in 2013.
