“At least I’m going to heaven,” Natalia Garibotto said, after the apparent blessing of Pope Francis’ account of an image of her wearing stockings and suspenders inspired by the school uniform was noticed by nearly six weeks after its publication.
The “like” of the pontiff’s account – which is typically used to post images and videos of papal appearances and speeches – could still be viewed on November 13, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported, but it was deleted the next day.
The Catholic Church has launched an internal investigation to establish how the interaction with the 27-year-old’s profile occurred, CNA reported, citing sources close to the Vatican press office.
The Pope’s social media accounts are managed by a team of people.
“We can rule out the ‘like’ coming from the Holy See, and he took to Instagram for an explanation,” a Vatican spokesperson said. The Guardian.
However, Ms. Garibotto’s management company, COY Co, was quick to joke that she had “received the OFFICIAL BLESSING OF THE POPE”.
Ms Garibotto also offered her own papal quip, telling Barstool Sports: ‘My mom might hate my ass photos, but the Pope taps twice.
The Pope has amassed some 7.4 million Instagram followers under the username @franciscus, but does not follow any accounts himself.
It is not clear whether Ms Garibotto, who has 2.4 million followers, is one of his followers.
