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.
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.
With her “yes”, Mary became the most influential woman in history. Without social networks, she became the first “influencer”: the “influencer” of God. #Panama2019
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) January 27, 2019
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
OK but doesn’t it seem odd that she only posts selfies with her son as a baby? Where are the teen years? Where’s His first birdhouse as a carpenter’s apprentice? I’ll hang up and take my answer offline, thanks Padre
— Bill Weir (@BillWeirCNN) January 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/mgranadosv/status/1089344910527004672
https://twitter.com/Expelliarmoire/status/1089340503626317825
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
…to some making it about consent (or a lack thereof):
https://twitter.com/zoe_samuel/status/1089371572039835648
https://twitter.com/SonOfGodAndMan/status/1089371836998213632
So you are suggesting that Mary consented to carry god's child, but I thought she was unaware of it until she couldn't be unaware of it making it non-consensual.
— John "Impeach Kavanaugh" (@jrjohnraeder) January 27, 2019
It wasn't concensual of course. Gabriel didn't ask her; he told her: "thou shalt conceive in thy womb," … She did agree once it was announced but c'mon, young, uneducated Jewish woman against an angel. The power discrepancy was too great to allow for genuine consent.
— Tracy Cul 🇮🇪 🇵🇸 (@TracyCul) January 27, 2019
And that conversion on consent swiftly veered toward the Catholic Church’s record of sexually abusing young boys:
I'm not sure consent was asked for. Seems to have become something of a policy for the Church.
— Alan Baxter ♛ (@AlanBixter) January 27, 2019
Great outreach to The Youths here. Now do something about all the child rape maybe.
— edburmila.bsky.social (@edburmila) January 27, 2019
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:
Not to be pedantic but wasn't Eve the first female "influencer" ?
— Galen Kehler (@GalenKehler) January 27, 2019
I feel like I remember someone wrote about her in some book you might have forgotten about.
Well, if we're going to believe fables, Eve was the first influencer, and the first scientist. She had a hypothesis, she risked everything to test it despite antagonistic authorities, had her results peer reviewed, and so increased and spread knowledge.
— ⚛ 🍁Kevin NomDePlume 🍍🍕 (@kevinsky) January 27, 2019
Eve was a hero.
https://twitter.com/guiareis/status/1089452554843549696
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.