Just in time for World Youth Day in Poland, Pope Emoji has added new stickers! These are whimsical cartoon characters of Pope Francis designed to add a joyful message to your texts or tweets. This updated collection includes the pope eating pierogi, St. Faustina, the pope embracing St. John Paul II, the pope waving the Polish flag, and much more. There is a bit of setup to get this up and running if you don’t already have the app, but Pope Emoji includes a tutorial showing you how to incorporate the cute emojis on your device’s keyboard.
Go online to www.swyftmedia.com to download the free Pope Emoji keyboard, or find it in your favorite app store.
The new WYD emoji follow on the heels of the first Pope Emoji released in honor of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States last fall, part of a larger “Pope is Hope” social media campaign by the global Catholic network Aleteia.org which is being led by Kathleen Hessert, a parishioner of St. Gabriel Church and founder of Charlotte-based Sports Media Challenge. The campaign is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, as well as Vine, Periscope and Snapchat.
“It’s remarkable the reception that Pope Emoji has received around the world. Since last September and with the backing of Aleteia, almost 1.3 million Pope Emoji have been sent, racking up 34.1 million impressions,” Hessert said.
The “Pope is Hope” campaign aims to engage millenials in the faith, especially as Pope Francis – who has more than 27 million people following him on Twitter @Pontifex – has challenged young people to integrate their faith with their use of social media.
— Jennifer Kane of Catholic Apptitude contributed.