Vatican Begins Investigation After Pope’s Instagram Account Likes Bikini Model’s Photo

The Vatican has launched an investigation into the revelation that Pope Francis‘ official Instagram page (Franciscus) liked a racy photo of a bikini model.

The Pope’s verified account liked the photo of a 27-year-old Brazillian model identified as Natalia Garibotto, who appeared in an image of her standing at a school locker with a white crop-top and a skirt barely covering her nakedness.

After the incident went viral, Garibotto has enjoyed more fame and attention with the model jokingly writing “My mum may hate my ass pics but the Pope be double-tapping,” during a chat with Barstool Sports, which also claimed to have seen the apparent papal seal of approval before it was removed.

While the actual time of the like is not known, news outlets started reporting the story from November 13, and also, it is not clear if the Pope manages his social media account himself which is highly unlikely.

The image has been unliked already since November 14 with the Vatican now investigating the usage of the papal Instagram account to like the racy picture.

Sources close to the Vatican press office confirmed to CNA that the pope’s various social media accounts are managed by a team of employees and that an internal investigation is underway to determine how the “like” happened.