Fact Check: Claim of Goan Catholic priest converting to Hinduism is FALSE
The Jesuit Priest was converted at a public ceremony at Ram Krishna Temple in d ancient Hindu city. Today is the day of great joy for me, as I'm no more attached to any church,” he said.
A picture of a Christian priest is being shared with a claim that he is a Goan Catholic priest and that he converted to Hinduism. The claim goes as: A Goan catholic priest from a family of 400 years in Xianity, Fr Anthony Fernandes returned to Hinduism. The Jesuit Priest was converted at a public ceremony at Ram Krishna Temple in d ancient Hindu city. Today is the day of great joy for me, as I'm no more attached to any church," he said.
This claim is viral on various social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter.
Fact check
The image seen in the viral post is NOT of the Goan Catholic priest. The claim is FALSE. The image is from a series named 'Father Matthew'.
When searching for the image using Yandex reverse image search, we found the image shared on the website of ATM Grupa.
According to the website, the Polish version of Don Matteo, Father Matthew (Ojciec Mateusz in Polish), is played by Artur Żmijewski, with his character reflecting a kind and cheerful person. On his return from Belarus, Father Mateusz is summoned by the Bishop and entrusted to a parish located just outside of Sandomierz.
A Polish news article also carried the same image which also confirms that the image is from the series 'Father Matthew'. The article states that the 28th season of the series is being telecast in early September 2022 and that Artur Zmijewski is playing the lead.
Here is the catalogue of all the episodes of Father Matthew on VOD of the TVP website of Poland.
When we searched for news articles about a Goan Catholic Father converting to Hinduism, we did not find any news about such event in the recent past.
Hence, an image from a Polish TV series was taken out of context and shared with a FALSE narrative. The claim is FALSE.