To celebrate Pope Francis' historic visit to the United States, a handful of tech companies have released some new pontiff-themed emojis and features.
Until the pope leaves next Tuesday, Twitter users can embellish their tweets with four separate icons -- called hashflags -- that are triggered with different pope-related hashtags. For example, #PopeInUS bringing up a smiling Pope Francis against an American flag. #PopeInDC, #PopeInNYC and #PopeInPhilly generate icons of national landmarks to celebrate each of the major destinations for the pontiff's visit.
So far Twitter users have been utilizing the hashflags and the hashtag #PopeIsHope to share photos and videos of the pope's visit.
Snapchat has also included a geofilter for the pope's visit to Washington, D.C., along with its usual set. The new addition includes an illustrated Pope Francis riding in his popemobile with the tagline "They See Me Rollin'."
As part of a social media-heavy campaign to reach out to millennials, the global Catholic network Aleteia.org has commissioned a popemoji keyboard from Swyft Media for users to celebrate the pontiff's historical visit to the United States.
The keyboard features 52 illustrated stickers and 14 animated GIFs showing the pope engaging in American pastimes. A Swyft representative told Mashable that more stickers and emojis will be added if the app is successful. According to Swyft Media, so far there have been 60,000 downloads of the app and more 500,000 popemojis have been sent.