CORRECTION NOTICE: According to Religious News Service, Pope Francis’ “first selfie” isn’t a selfie, but actually a screengrab from a Google Hangout. Even though The Vatican’s Instagram post says it’s a selfie, it is not. Global News regrets the error.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Those who say that Pope Francis is breaking the mould for popedom may just be right.
Pope Francis appears to have taken his first “selfie” and posted it on The Vatican’s official Instagram page, with the description “first #selfie”.
Perhaps it was an expression of joy. On Sunday, Pope Francis ordered that cathedrals around the world open their Holy Doors for the first Sunday of his Jubilee of Mercy.
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“We have opened the Holy Door, here and in all the cathedrals of the world,” Pope Francis said, after pushing open the massive bronze doors of Rome’s Basilica of St John Lateran. He called the symbolic gesture “an invitation to joy.”
“It begins a time of great forgiveness. It is the Jubilee of Mercy,” he said. “God does not love rigidity. He is tender.”
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By ordering Holy Doors opened in local parishes worldwide, Pope Francis broke a centuries-long tradition in which Catholics are expected to make the pilgrimage to Rome for the jubilee, a year set aside for pardons. It seems he’s also set the inaugural record for Pope selfies.
Thoroughly engaged on social media, Pope Francis (@Pontifex) has 8.12 million followers on Twitter.