Italian Prime Minister breaks down and calls on God to rescue his people from coronavirus – Viral Social Media posts
The man in the photo is not the Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, but the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The quote attributed to Mr Conte was not reported by any credible media. It is also not corroborated by an official account of Mr Conte.
Viral social media posts claim an overwhelmed Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, has broken down and has called on God to intervene in the coronavirus fight. The Prime Minister is reported to have said they have “exhausted” all solutions and can only hope in God “rescue your people.”
In the posts, a grey-haired man is seen behind a microphone with tears streaking down his face.
The photo is accompanied by the texts: “Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte: “We have lost control, Can’t understand what more we can do, all solutions are exhausted on ground. Our only hope remains up in the Sky, God rescue your people. Pray for Italy and the Whole world.”
The post has been shared several times on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
So far, Italy has been the hardest hit by the Covid-19. It has recorded more Covid-19 deaths, 10,023, than even China, 3,304, where the pandemic started. The country currently has the second-highest number of confirmed cases, 92,472. It comes next to the United States of America which has 124,686 cases.
Verification
As some social media users rightly noted, the man in the photo is not the Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte. It is the rather the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
A Google Reverse Image search led us to PODER 360 site. The website carries the viral picture and captions it “Bolsonaro cried during an evangelical service in a hall at the Planalto Palace.”
The photo was taken at a thanksgiving service in December 2019 and is unrelated to coronavirus.
According to the story on the PODER 360 site (translated into English), President Bolsonaro had broken down at the thanksgiving service after remembering a knife attack he had suffered during the 2018 Brazilian elections.
The occasion was also captured in a youtube video.
Did the Italian President ever make the comment?
The quote cannot be found on any credible website or from any official source.
Our independent search of the comment attributed to the Prime Minister did not find the quote anywhere.
Considering the newsworthiness of the said quote, one would expect it to be reported by the international media and other reputable source. However, none of them did.
Additionally, no such comment was found on any platform belonging to the Prime Minister. In fact, in various posts on his official accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Mr Conte’s response to the Covid-19 has been to pledge his full commitment and to rally all to support the fight against coronavirus.
