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Pope Francis called Mary an ‘influencer’—and it didn’t go over well

Weird flex but OK.

Photo of Samira Sadeque

Samira Sadeque

A gay man claims Pope Francis said God 'made you this way.'

Pope Francis definitely is a pope for millennials—what with his bold stance on issues ranging from climate change to homosexuality to the gender pay gap. 

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On Saturday though, his millennial outreach hit a peak when he tweeted that the Virgin Mary was the first ever—and the ultimate—“influencer”, having been successful despite her lack of access to social media. He also said it while addressing a World Youth Day in Panama City that day.

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Twitter has all sorts of feelings about it, but Atlantic reporter Taylor Lorenz landed the most viral clapback, writing that “Jesus literally faked his own death for more followers, so…”

https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1089352760275931137

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https://twitter.com/mgranadosv/status/1089344910527004672

https://twitter.com/Expelliarmoire/status/1089340503626317825

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https://twitter.com/PaulWallmanship/status/1089404183193767937

From some saying his social media team was trying too hard…

https://twitter.com/GMSarli/status/1089350632224493569

https://twitter.com/zoe_samuel/status/1089371003686449157

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…to some making it about consent (or a lack thereof):

https://twitter.com/zoe_samuel/status/1089371572039835648

https://twitter.com/SonOfGodAndMan/status/1089371836998213632

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And that conversion on consent swiftly veered toward the Catholic Church’s record of sexually abusing young boys:

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https://twitter.com/doodlemancy/status/1089355053524123649

https://twitter.com/doodlemancy/status/1089357839959642112

Some tested the accuracy of the tweet, claiming  it really was Eve who was the first influencer:

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https://twitter.com/kevinsky/status/1089409689857667073

https://twitter.com/guiareis/status/1089452554843549696

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The irony that Mary, despite being the “influencer,” still wasn’t in a position of power wasn’t lost on many:

https://twitter.com/walizonia/status/1089350517376106496

https://twitter.com/LindaPankewicz/status/1089338823497142273

Maybe the tweet wasn’t a hit among his (Twitter) followers, but the pope stirred a social media conversation on a variety of hot-button social justice issues which, we can all agree, is a pretty millennial thing to do.

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The Daily Dot