The dear Pope Francis infamously recently liked a thirst trap on Instagram and now the Vatican are insisting that it was a total accident. 

Mr Francis was a naughty leader of the Catholic Church when his official Instagram account liked a picture of a model in a skimpy schoolgirl outfit. The Bishop of Rome became the Bishop of Horniness. The Holy See became the Unholy S- you get the idea.

The picture was almost immediately unliked by the account but not before those swift and crafty internet folk took note of the actions.

https://twitter.com/snootid/status/1327756019750088704?s=21

Pope Francis is hugely popular across social media. His Instagram account, operating under the username franciscus, has 7.4 million followers (although he doesn’t follow any other accounts, the height of rudeness).

He allegedly rarely composes content himself though. “The pope is not like Donald Trump, he’s not sitting around using his phone or computer to tweet all day long,” said Robert Mickens, the Rome-based editor of the English-language edition of the Catholic daily newspaper La Croix.

“He does, for example, approve the tweets – but not the likes – and on very rare occasions he has said he would like to tweet something because of a developing situation or emergency. So he would have nothing to do with this – it’s the communications department, and how this happens … who knows.”

Aghast that a celibate elder could commit such an act, the Vatican has now launched an investigation into the matter. Catholic News Agency reported the news, saying “the Vatican is investigating usage of the papal Instagram account.”

While “an official for the Holy See Press Office declined to comment on the event” to CNA, the publication notes that “sources close to the Vatican press office confirmed… that the pope’s various social media accounts are managed by a team of employees, and that an internal investigation is underway to determine how the ‘like’ happened.”

The blessed model in question is Natalia Garibotto, who has been rightfully enjoying the attention. Garibotto tweeted that her entrance to heaven is now guaranteed (if Saint Peter turns her away, there surely has to be an inquiry) and that she’s also heading to the Vatican. That would certainly be a more exciting day for the clergy than the usual droves of grandmother tourists.

Francis has been one of the more progressive and liberal Popes but this might be one step too far. If it is a risky PR move on the Church’s behalf though, fair play. As a recovering Catholic, if anything was going to return me to worship, it might just be this.

He also once said that social media would “always be spaces that are rich in humanity.” You showed it, sir.

Honestly, if you’re an Instagram model, you’ve got to be hoping that God’s light and official blessing will be shining on your butt next. The Pope being horny on main like the rest of us mere mortals? Whoever is in the writers room for 2020, you keep outdoing yourself.

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