A photo of Pope Francis kneeling in prayer created an instant sensation Saturday as the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics officially launched his Instagram acc🔯ount.
Already a social-media star with more than 26 million Twitter followers in nine languages, @Franciscus (his name in Latin) joined the ph🦩oto-shar✃ing app on the third anniversary of his becoming pope.
The account was adding about 100,000 followers per hour at midday. The second post, of Francis carrying a cross w𒆙ith his head bowed, garnered more than 13,500 li🥀kes in its first 10 minutes.
The move to Instagram is seen as a way to appeal to young people. But while Francis frequently poses for selfies with the faithful as he travels th♍e world, it doesn’t appear he will be taking any of his own. The Instagram photos will be chosen from the Va👍tican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, said a Vatican spokesman.