Pope Francis joined Instagram on Saturday today with a photo of himself kneeling in prayer. There was a caption for the image saying “pray for me” in 9 languages. “Franciscus” is the Pope’s Insta handle, and of course, it will be handled by the Vatican members even though it is different from the official Vatican account. The major news is that the Pope got 100,000 followers on his new Instagram account within the first hour!
The news of the Pope joining Instagram came out on Thursday, just weeks after meeting Kevin Systrom, Instagram CEO. The two had discussed the possibility of Pope joining the social media platform. When Pope finally went live on Instagram, the CEO of the service also joined in the moment with a photo of him shaking hands with the Pope.
The photo included a message saying, “Watching Pope Francis post his first photo to Instagram today was an incredible moment. @franciscus, welcome to the Instagram community! Your messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark.”
In case you don’t know, Saturday is the the third anniversary of the papal inauguration of Pope Francis. The Pope has joined Instagram so that communication with Catholic followers all around the world becomes easier. Of course, joining the popular platform is a smart decision as Instagram has immense popularity in countries like Italy, France, Brazil, etc. that have a large Catholic presence.
Have you started following the Pope yet?