Alexander Soros was part of Clinton's delegation. There was no evidence at the time of this writing, however, that he and the pope met privately.
On July 5, 2023, claims began to spread on social media platforms that Pope Francis had met with former President Bill Clinton and George Soros' son Alexander Soros. At the time of publication, Alexander Soros was the chair of the board of directors of his father's philanthropic organization, Open Society Foundations.
"BREAKING Pope Francis has met with both Bill Clinton and Alex Soros in the Vatican," a tweet posted on July 5, 2023, said. The tweet was attached to images that claimed to show Clinton and the pope greeting each other, as well as Soros standing with his arms crossed looking on.
BREAKING
Pope Francis has met with both Bill Clinton and Alex Soros in the Vatican pic.twitter.com/o9fhJwjdOZ
— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) July 5, 2023
We also found posts about the claims on TikTok, Reddit, and Facebook. Several of the posts referenced various conspiracy theories, like Alexander Soros being the son of the "World Domination Puppetmaster."
We learned Pope Francis privately met with Clinton at the Casa Santa Marta papal residence in Vatican City on July 5. The pope also met with Clinton's delegation, which included Alexander Soros.
Vatican News, the Holy See's official news portal, posted a video to its website as well as social media accounts on the date in question. The beginning of the video showed Francis and Clinton greeting each other, as well as Soros looking on.
In a short blurb attached to the video, Vatican News wrote that following a private meeting between Clinton and Pope Francis, where they discussed peace, the pope briefly greeted "security guards and other friends accompanying the former president."
According to the Catholic News Agency, Clinton's delegation included Alexander Soros. At the time of this writing, however, there was no evidence that he and the pope met privately. We reached out to Open Society Foundations to confirm and will update this fact-check if we hear back.
Catholic News Agency reported that besides Alexander Soros, other members of the delegation included Clinton's son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, and Strobe Talbott, former U.S. deputy secretary of state during the Clinton administration (who was also Clinton's roommate when he attended Oxford University).