Pope Francis has once again elevated his status as Hippest Pontiff Ever by joining Instagram.
Within hours of launching his
account Saturday, @Franciscus had already accumulated 405,000 Instagram
followers. Based on his massive Twitter following (25 million users in 9
different languages, according to the Vatican)
that number is sure to grow as the Pope—or, more likely, the Vatican’s
social media directors—continue to post photos and videos on the
image-centric network. Francis' first post is of the Pope himself
kneeling in prayer with the caption "Pray for me" written in nine
different languages.
“Instagram will help recount the
papacy through images, to enable all those who wish to accompany and
know more about Pope Francis’ pontificate to encounter his gestures of
tenderness and mercy,” Dario E. Viganò, prefect of the Vatican’s
Secretariat for Communications, said in a press release
Friday. “We will choose photographs from the Photographic Service of
L’Osservatore Romano, selecting certain details. In this way we can show
those aspects of closeness and inclusion that Pope Francis lives every
day.”
The Pope’s social media presence
is as remarkable for the leader of the historically traditional Roman
Catholic Church as it is for any 79-year-old. And social media seems to
love him right back. In honor of his visit
to the United States this fall, Twitter released a batch of limited
edition of Pope emojis, while Snapchat offered users in the cities
Francis visited the opportunity to stamp their snaps with Pontiff-themed
filters
In fact, Francis reportedly
decided to expand his social media horizons after meeting with Instagram
CEO Kevin Systrom at the Vatican last month. Naturally, Systrom documented the meeting
via Instagram, writing in the caption of his post, “Today I had the
honor of meeting Pope Francis. We spoke about the power of images to
unite people across different cultures and languages. It was by far one
of the most memorable experiences of my life!”
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