BIG NEWS!! Pope Francis hits Instagram!

'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.'

The Vatican recently announced Pope Francis' official Instagram account!

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Come one, come all, follow Pope Francis on Instagram!

The Vatican announced Pope Francis' "Franciscus" Instagram account on Saturday, while the pontiff Tweeted, "I am beginning a new journey, on Instagram, to walk with you along the path of the mercy and tenderness of God."

The decision to open an Instagram account was made by the pontiff himself, which he created with help from Kevin Systrom,, Instagram founder and CEO, and Msgr. Lucio Adrian Ruiz, the secretary of the Secretariat for Communication.

Monsignor Dario Viganň, the Prefect of the Secretariat for communications, stated: "Instagram will help recount the papacy through images, to enable all those who wish to accompany and know more about Pope Francis's pontificate to encounter his gestures of tenderness and mercy.

"We will choose photographs from the photographic service of L'Osservatore Romano ... In this way we can show those aspects of closeness and inclusion that Pope Francis lives every day."

According to The Washington Post, Pope Francis' first image, captioned "Pray for me" in nine different languages, received 10,000 comments and 59,000 likes within the first three hours.

Systrom told The Guardian, he met with the pontiff at the Vatican and discussed "the power of images to unite people across different cultures and languages."

He then took to his own Instagram account to write, "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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