Pope Francis is reportedly a tango fan -- but does the octogenarian Holy Father dance merengue? A video making the rounds on social media has fooled some into thinking that the Pope danced merengue (which some mistook for salsa) on a 2017 visit to Colombia:
Facebook user Fredy Gonzalez posted the earliest iteration of the video that we could find on 1 November 2017 (the day after Halloween). Gonzalez joked that the video showed "the reality of the Pope's visit" to Colombia, which had occurred a few months before. When some commenters didn't seem to understand the joke, Gonzalez said in Spanish, "Haha don't get bitter that it's fake. The Pope is Argentine -- why would he dance with that Colombian flavor?"
In case it still wasn't clear, he added:
Pope Francis, is that you?
Although the quality of this footage deteriorated as it was circulated around the internet, the original footage gives a pretty clear view of the "dancing pope," who appears to be much younger and taller than Pope Francis.
The Pope's actual visit was well-documented, and no genuine news sources made mention of the Holy Father attending a Halloween party to do the merengue.