In 1st Instagram post, Pope Francis says ‘pray for me’

Pope Francis made his Instagram debut Saturday, seeking believers’ prayers in nine languages.

“I want to walk with you along the way of God’s mercy and tenderness,” he writes on the photo-sharing network owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s juggernaut Facebook, introducing himself under the account name “franciscus.”

In addition to the one seeking prayer, Pope Francis has made only one other post so far, another of him in kneeling in prayer. Both images are official photos of The Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano newspaper.

He had garnered 570,000 followers by midday Saturday. He is following no one at this time.

Mashable reported late last month that Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom met with the pontiff in Rome at the Vatican. Images of Systrom and Francis conversing with his as His Holiness in his office hit the Web three weeks ago.

The “People’s Pope” is active on Twitter but until Saturday had not joined Instagram.

Today, Systrom posted a photo of him again shaking hands in the pope’s office – this time, after Francis posted his first Instagram photo. Like Systrom’s earlier post, it has quickly gone viral.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 9:45 AM with the headline "In 1st Instagram post, Pope Francis says ‘pray for me’."