Italian brainrot emerged on TikTok in early 2025, built around AI generated creatures given pseudo Italian names, dramatic narration and endless remixes. As the characters spread to Shorts and Instagram, creators started dropping them into unrelated news jokes. The election of a new pope in 2025 gave that trend a perfect target, since the Vatican sits in Rome and the joke writes itself. Clips like this one keep circulating because the contrast stays funny and the character names remain instantly recognisable to anyone who lived through the trend.