Pope Francis' supposed epic "first selfie" was making the rounds on Instagram and Twitter on Monday morning, showing the grinning pontiff gazing into a camera.
The only problem is the photo is a holy fake.
The photo was posted to an Instagram account with more than 140,000 followers with the caption, "First #selfie" before several news outlets picked it up.
The photo of Pope Francis comes from a video chat he did with young people around the world in September 2014.
@catholicworld First #selfie #popeFrancis #papaFrancesco #papaFrancisco #papstFranziskus #papeFrançois #папафранциск A photo posted by VATICAN.VA (@vatican__) on Dec 14, 2015 at 2:15am PST
The Vatican press office confirmed to Mashable that the pope does not have a Instagram account.
Several news outlets were duped, including CNN, who asked viewers: "Have you seen a better selfie?"
.@Pontifex posts on Instagram -- be honest, have you seen a better selfie? https://t.co/ZxAnvYl12F— New Day (@NewDay) December 14, 2015
The purported "selfie" immediately raised red flags due in part to Pope Francis' typically humble nature. During a visit to the U.S. earlier this year, Pope Francis warned an audience of "chasing likes" on social media.
"I would dare say that at the root of so many contemporary situations is a kind of radical loneliness that so many people live in today," Francis said to an audience of American bishops at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. "Running after the latest fad, a like, accumulating followers on any of the social networks."
But despite that, Pope Francis is quite popular on social media. His official Twitter account has more than 8.12 million followers.