--- title: Pope Francis Is Joining Instagram description: His handle is expected to be @Franciscus canonical: https://time.com/4261634/pope-francis-instagram-2/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-16T18:45:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:57:51.040Z article:section: World og:title: Pope Francis Is Joining Instagram og:description: His handle is expected to be @Franciscus og:url: https://time.com/4261634/pope-francis-instagram-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt476937721605b4f6/69888b46cf40a89c3ec426db/pope-francis-instagram.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pope Francis in Vatican og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pope Francis Is Joining Instagram twitter:description: His handle is expected to be @Franciscus twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt476937721605b4f6/69888b46cf40a89c3ec426db/pope-francis-instagram.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pope Francis Is Joining Instagram  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Mar 16, 2016 6:45 PM CUT  Pope Francis is seen as he arrives for his weekly general audience at St Peter's square in Vatican City on March 16. Pope Francis is seen as he arrives for his weekly general audience at St Peter's square in Vatican City on March 16.Anadolu Agency—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Mar 16, 2016 6:45 PM CUT Get ready to see Pope Francis in a whole new light—or at least a new filter. The Pope is [joining Instagram](http://fortune.com/2016/03/16/instagram-pope-francis/ "undefined") with the handle @franciscus on March 19, reports Italian news agency [ANSA](http://www.ansa.it/english/news/general%5Fnews/2016/03/15/pope-to-debut-on-instagram%5F872fb236-df98-4566-b062-c3bb941a800e.html "undefined"), citing an comments from Monsignor Dario Viganò, who heads the Vatican’s communications wing, on Vatican Radio. Pope Francis is already on Twitter with the handle [@Pontifex](https://twitter.com/pontifex "undefined") and has 8.87 million followers. Earlier this year, Pope Francis met with Instagram CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom at the Vatican to [discuss the power of images](http://fortune.com/2016/02/26/pope-francis-instagram-ceo/ "undefined") and how pictures can “unite people across borders, cultures and generations.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4261634/pope-francis-instagram-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4261634/pope-francis-instagram-2/"},"headline":"Pope Francis Is Joining Instagram","datePublished":"2016-03-16T18:45:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:57:51.040Z","description":"His handle is expected to be @Franciscus","url":"https://time.com/4261634/pope-francis-instagram-2/","keywords":["Vatican"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt476937721605b4f6/69888b46cf40a89c3ec426db/pope-francis-instagram.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt476937721605b4f6/69888b46cf40a89c3ec426db/pope-francis-instagram.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Francis in Vatican","caption":"Pope Francis in Vatican","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/vatican/","name":"Vatican"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4261634/pope-francis-instagram-2/","name":"Pope Francis Is Joining Instagram"}}]}] ```