Pope Francis

After making his social media name with a Twitter following that now reaches almost 9 million, the pontiff is now prepping for a debut on Instagram, the photo sharing site and cell phone app.

The pontiff's handle will be Franciscus, according to TheNextWeb.com.

"Emails, text messages, social networks and chats can also be fully human forms of communication," the pope said in his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Communications.

"It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal," said.

“We have come from the Pacific Islands to celebrate the leadership of Pope Francis on climate change and to pray for the islands and the leaders that will decide our fate at COP21 in Paris,” said Koreti Tiumalu, 350.org’s Pacific coordinator.

“We brought mats from the islands made specifically for this journey which we used to pray on over the last three days in St. Peter’s Square. We wanted to offer these mats from the Pacific as a symbol of our gratitude for the Pope’s leadership and his encyclical—Laudato Si,” she added.

The clerk gained attention for refusing to issue same-sex couples marriage licenses.

The pope's meeting with Washington resident Yayo Grassi, his boyfriend and a few others came to light Friday as the Vatican was distancing itself from claims the pope's meeting with the clerk, Kim Davis, was an endorsement of her stance on same-sex marriage.

"He held out his hand to her and she grasped his hand," her attorney, Mat Staver, told The Associated Press. "He asked her to pray for him and she said she would; she asked the pope to pray for her, and he said he would."

The Vatican essentially confirmed the meeting: The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, given the opportunity to deny it took place, declined to do so and said merely that he would have no comment.

Francis spent time with fellow Argentinians Catire Walker and Noel Zemborain and their four children, talking about their visit and praying.

Zemborain told the Associated Press that Francis told her that they were crazy to drive so far with their children. She said it was like meeting an old friend and Francis hugged the children.

In a wide-ranging press conference en route to Rome from his first-ever visit to the United States, Francis also declared conscience objection a "human right," explained his admiration for American nuns and discussed his own star-power, which was fully on display during his six-day, three-city tour.

He also invented a new Italian word to describe the exuberant reception he received in New York City: "stralimitata" — roughly, "beyond all limits."

Even as hundreds of thousands of people thronged the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sunday for Mass with Pope Francis, his weekend visit to Philadelphia apparently failed to deliver the economic boon predicted by organizers.

Some businesses closed early, some downtown hotel rooms went unfilled and normally bustling city streets were deserted over the weekend as residents either stayed home or left town, and pilgrims kept their wallets in their pockets.

The Pope closed out his six-day tour with a message of hope for families, consolation for victims of child sexual abuse and a warning to America's bishops.

Organizers had predicted a crowd of 1 million for Francis' open-air Mass, and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway overflowed with the jubilant. They endured hours-long lines and airport-style security checks to see history's first pope from the Americas celebrate the faith in the birthplace of the United States.

The message was a powerful warning to American bishops accused of covering up for pedophile priests instead of reporting them to police.

The pontiff disclosed the gesture of reconciliation at the start of a meeting with American bishops gathered in Philadelphia for a big rally on Catholic families.