Through a publication made on Thursday (January 22) on TikTok, it was claimed that the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, has converted to the Catholic religion.
Account publication "TNT" shows President Vjosa Osmani during a visit to a church, alongside the bishop of Kosovo, Dodë Gjergji. "THE PRESIDENT OF KOSOVO CONVERTS FROM A MUSLIM TO THE RELIGION OF THE FIRST" is the caption of the video accompanied by the cross, which is a symbol of Christianity.
Why is this content being addressed?
The claim is not based on facts. Hibrid.info has checked for articles or documents that would confirm such a claim, but nothing of the kind has been found online.
Initially, hibrid.info confirmed the footage. Based on the findings, it turned out that the published footage shows Osmani during a visit to the church in the village of Letnicë, in the Municipality of Viti, for the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of the Assumption, on August 15, 2024. Osmani himself had announced the visit on Facebook (see here). The visit is also confirmed by the announcements of Municipality of Viti and the page "Yearbook” on Facebook. The visit was also reported in the media “KlanKosova". In neither case is it said that she converted or changed religion.
The claim that Osmani had converted to the Catholic religion had also circulated in 2024, when the issue of religious conversions began to gain ground in the media and social networks, following the presentation of the initiative called "Movement for the Voluntary Abandonment of the Islamic Religion". Hibrid.info had also addressed such a claim for President Osmani.
Since religious belief is a personal matter, it is also difficult to find public data on this issue, both for private and public persons. Thus, there is no information about which religious faith President Vjosa Osmani belongs to. Therefore, even the claims that she has changed her religion are considered unfounded, since no document proving one or the other exists in the public domain.
Based on the 2024 Kosovo census data, 93.49 percent of those who declared themselves to be Muslim, 2.31% Orthodox, 1.75% Catholic, and 0.45% other religions. 0.5% said they did not belong to any religious faith, while 1.5% refused to answer (see here).
The TikTok post has received more than 128 views, more than 2600 likes, and more than 220 comments as of the time of writing. The content of many of the comments suggests that the audience is likely to perceive the content as credible.
Analyze:
The claim that President Vjosa Osmani has converted to Catholicism is false. Footage published on TikTok shows her during an official visit to the Letnica church on August 15, 2024.
Besides the fact that religious belief is a personal matter and it is difficult to find public data on this issue, there is no document or public statement proving that Osmani has changed religion.
Hibrid.info had addressed a similar claim at that time.
Therefore, based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Fake News".
rationale
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.