Pope Francis picks up a microphone, the internet responds with lyrics

Twitter users imagined the pontiff as a rapper and gave him appropriate lyrics using the hashtag #popebars

The photo that launched 1,000 memes (Getty)

On Monday, Pope Francis toured parts of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, a country wracked in recent years by civil strife that to an extent played along sectarian lines. During his visit, as Kevin Sieff reported, the pontiff urged unity and reconciliation.

"Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters," he said, speaking at a mosque in Bangui. "We must, therefore, consider ourselves and conduct ourselves as such."

It's to be hoped that the message was heeded by the throngs that came out to greet the pope. But elsewhere, especially on social media, the world heard another message.

An image taken Sunday at a camp for the internally displaced showed Francis speaking while holding a microphone, his other hand poised horizontally.

It led to a hilarious, if irreverent, meme: Twitter users imagined the pontiff as a rapper and gave him appropriate lyrics using the hashtag #popebars. Here's a sampling of what followed.

Washington Post