On Saturday, April 26, Pope Francis was laid to rest amidst a crowd of roughly 250,000 people. Among those in attendance were several prominent world leaders and public figures, including US President Donald Trump, former President Joe Biden, Prince William, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and others.
As the Vatican maintains a traditionally strict dress code centered around dark colors, attendees could have safely complied by wearing black. But keeping with his own practice of challenging the status quo, President Trump attended the funeral wearing a blue suit and tie, prompting a flurry of media bias and misleading media coverage.
What was the dress code?
Ahead of the funeral, according to Sky News (Lean Left bias), the Vatican specifically asked for men to wear dark suits with white shirts and long black ties. Italian newspaper, Il Messaggero, which is not rated by AllSides, reported shoes, long socks, coats, and umbrellas were also specified to be black to mark the occasion.
Other outlets, however, reported differing information regarding the dress code before the funeral.
Argentinian right-wing outlet La Derecha Diario reported on April 23, “The Holy See did not impose exclusive attire for attendees, but sobriety is required. Dark colors are recommended, with black as the main one, although not mandatory.”
Italian outlet Notizie.it, which is also not rated by AllSides, but claims to have received a credibility approval from NewsGuard, wrote on April 24: “The dress must be strictly black. No shades of gray, dark blue, or sophisticated trends. Black must be absolute.”
AllSides was not able to locate the specific dress code issued by the Vatican for the funeral. Fact checking site Snopes (Lean Left) also was unable to find a source for the dress code.
Mainstream Media Singles Out Trump
AllSides did not find much coverage of the dress code from mainstream media before the funeral, but after Trump wore a blue suit and tie, many outlets reported on it.
Fortune (Center) published an article saying, “The Vatican asked Pope Francis funeral attendees to wear all black. Trump wore a blue suit”, alongside a cropped photo of the president surrounded by others only wearing black. The New York Times (Lean Left) ran a similar story, using a similarly framed photo from one of its photographers.
While Trump did wear blue to the funeral, he was not the only one. Wider looks of the crowd from Getty and BBC News (Center) showed several other attendees wearing blue or navy suits, including Prince William. Former President Biden also donned a blue tie.
Fortune’s coverage singled out Trump in the crowd with its photo and headline. It also misled readers in a context box at the top of the article saying that the Vatican “had a strict all-black” dress code, though it didn’t provide a source for this. Fortune’s headline said the Vatican “asked” attendees to wear all black, though it’s unclear if this actually happened, making it potential misinformation.
While it did mention that Biden and Zelenskyy were also out of dress code, its headline only mentioned Trump. These are examples of photo bias and bias by story placement.
Other outlets, like Newsweek (Center), highlighted other prominent figures wearing blue, though those stories were picked up less often. Snopes featured a photo of the president’s suit, but noted that it was unclear where “reports on Trump's alleged etiquette breach sourced [their] dress code information.”
Viral Twitter Fact Check - Altered Photo?
On X, one user attempted to combat the media bias by sharing a wide shot of the crowd that showed many more attendees in blue. This photo reached over 10.4 million people, with commenters accusing the poster of altering the colors in the photo.
Propaganda vs. Reality pic.twitter.com/7qZe3hsKFd
— Lori Love (@thereallorilove) April 26, 2025
AllSides examined this photo against the one posted by BBC and determined it was most likely altered to make existing blues stand out more while true black outfits remained the same.
Conclusion
With no clear source of the Vatican’s dress code, or alleged request for Pope Francis’ funeral, it’s difficult to determine what qualifies as “misinformation” or not. However, outlets that highlighted Trump’s attire and did so by showing a cropped photo have displayed clear photo bias and bias by omission.
Furthermore, as Fortune’s headline went viral on X, the user who posted the photo of Trump and the crowd seems to have posted a manipulated photo, attempting to fight what they considered a misleading headline with a misleading version of the photo.
Whether reading news from legacy outlets or X, readers should always stay vigilant and look for source materials to verify claims made, especially if they appear heavily slanted in one direction.
This article was written by Content Intern Jessica Carpenter and News and Social Media Editor Andy Gorel who both have a Center bias.
It was reviewed by News & Bias Assistant Johnathon Held (Lean Right) and News Editor & Bias Analyst Emily Allen (Left).
