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Posts by bikini model and influencer Natalia Garibotto garner lakhs of likes from her 2.4 million followers. On October 5, when she put up a picture of herself in schoolgirl-style lingerie, one of those likes came from @franciscus, the official handle of Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The like was removed on November 14, after a report by the Catholic News Agency — and has prompted an investigation by the Vatican.
A 27-year-old from Brazil, Garibotto is famous on social media by the Instagram handle @natagata. where she posts risqué images of herself and promises “even better content” on her website. Her site, natagata.com, offers “sexy exclusives”, “access to BTS clips, twerk videos, and more”. The picture that the Pope liked was captioned “I can teach you a thing or two” and was accompanied by a devil’s horn emoji.
The pope is present on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, which are managed by a team of professionals. The Pope is said to give his consent for tweets and, during a crisis or emergency situation, has said he wants to tweet. He does not occupy himself with liking social media posts. It is unlikely that the pontiff has seen the model’s picture or responded to it personally. His Instagram handle, which has 7.4 million followers, does not follow @natagata or any other. A spokesperson for the Vatican told The Guardian, “We can exclude that the ‘like’ came from the Holy See, and have turned to Instagram for explanations.” 📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram
As the news spread across social media, the model tweeted, “At least I’m going to heaven”. Her management and publicity firm, COY Co posted on its account that it has “received the POPE’S OFFICIAL BLESSING.”
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