Was YouTuber Trisha Paytas involved in Pope Francis’ death? The wild conspiracy theory, explored

As far as internet rabbit holes and viral misinformation, few stories are as bizarre or as baseless as the recent conspiracy theory linking YouTuber and internet personality Trisha Paytas to Pope Francis’ death. Incredibly, it isn’t the first time Paytas has been linked to the passing of a high-profile figure. 

The Paytas-Pope Francis theory gained traction when the Vatican announced the 88-year-old pontiff had died after an extended respiratory illness for which he was hospitalized earlier in the year. After Francis’ death was announced, A series of online memes, social media posts, and allegations followed linking Paytas to what happened, similar to when Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022.

Paytas pregnancies and world-leader deaths

pope Francis just died and Trisha paytas is pregnant pic.twitter.com/Z00X82FbjW

— Ava🐇🩰 (@avalarkx) April 21, 2025

The Paytas conspiracy flared up amid reports that Pope Francis had died shortly after Paytas announced their pregnant with their third child. This is similar to a 2022 online trend that joked about the Queen of England dying around the same time, and that one of Paytas’ babies was born, and that the child could be the Queen reincarnated. In an Instagram post, Paytas said to expect the baby in July 2025.

This strange saga began on social media platforms like X, TikTok, and Reddit, where users drew satirical connections between Trisha Paytas and high-profile global events. 

BREAKING NEWS: Trisha Paytas has made it her mission to find the titanic submarine‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/Wo4bbZB1RW

— luke:) (@umnothinkabtit) June 21, 2023

These memes originated as part of a larger trend where Paytas is jokingly tied to historical or contemporary moments ranging from the Titanic to the fall of the Roman Empire, thanks to Paytas’ larger-than-life online presence.

Is Paytas a harbinger of doom?

What started as internet humor quickly took on a life of its own. Some TikTok creators began making deep dive videos about the pattern of Trisha Paytas’ childbirths aligning with the deaths of world leaders. Most of these videos were intended as satire, but as often happens online, irony blurred with genuine confusion.

Suddenly, headlines—some fake, others clickbait—began circulating with questions wondering if Paytas could be a harbinger of doom, and whether Paytas announcing their third pregnancy had anything to do with the pontiff’s death.

Trisha Paytas is a well-known American internet personality, YouTuber, and singer who rose to fame in the late 2000s and 2010s through a mix of viral videos, vlogs, music, and posts.

Referring to the Queen Elizabeth-Paytas connection, Paytas said in 2022 when she had not yet had her baby, “I’m so sorry to the royal family that my name was even trending under the Queen’s, I was just so embarrassed.” She added in part, stating the obvious, “I still don’t get the correlation between the two. But I did not have my baby, and there is no reincarnation of the Queen in my baby.”