Pope Emoji Introduced by Twitter, Aleteia for Visit to United States

Twitter has given the Pope his very own set of emoji icons in honor of his visit to the United States this week.

Users can access the emoji by using the hashtags #PopeinUS, #PopeinDC, #PopeinNYC, and #PopeinPhilly. Upon using them, Twitter's software automatically adds the emoji.

"Considering the warm Twitter welcome he received shortly after being named pope, we anticipate many devotees will flock to Twitter to savor his visit," the social media company wrote on its official blog.

Along with the emoji, Twitter released a real-time graph to show how many people are tweeting about the Pope throughout his visit.



Mashable.com reported that, in addition to the Twitter emoji, the Catholic organization Aleteia has also released its own downloadable set of Pope emoji available through the smartphone app Popemoji.

Pope Francis, the first pope to use Twitter, is not the first to get his own custom emoji.

According to USA Today, Twitter has recently rolled out Star Wars emoji, and has been working with Coca-Cola to help brands create their own custom icons.

Francis' plane landed around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and he visited the White House on Wednesday. He will also travel to New York City, as well as Philadelphia.

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