Pontiff opens first Instagram account @Franciscus

Following our report early last week revealing that the pope may be joiningphoto-sharing social media network, Instagram, we can now confirm that the religious leader has now joined the platform officially.

In our first report, we revealed that the pope had had a private meeting with Instagram founder and CEO Kevin Systrom.

Following that meeting, the Instagram boss was also present when the pope officially signed up as a member on the photo-sharing site with the handle @Franciscus.

READ: Check out magazine's list of the 30 most influential people on the Internet

The Instagram account was opened on the anniversary of the pope's inauguration and will be his second social media account - his first, on Twitter, has about 8.9 million followers.