Pope Francis’ account tweeted about the attributes and significance of each finger on the hand in a series of posts about God and placing “the gift of life in your hands.”
An unusual tweet from the official account of Pope Francis had everyone wondering if they really should be flipping the bird more often. On Feb. 2, 2023, Francis' account tweeted, "The middle finger, which is higher than the others, reminds us of something essential: honesty. To be honest means not getting entangled in the snares of corruption."
Twitter immediately erupted with jokes, with many saying this was an endorsement of flipping the bird more often:
And others said it was an important finger while driving:
The tweet was actually part of a series of musings about the significance of each finger on the hand, and how they each carry "the gift of life." The Pope also tweeted about the thumb, saying it "symbolizes prayer, which is the driving force of our life." He tweeted about the other fingers on the hand, but after people began making fun of the middle finger tweet, all the tweets about the fingers were soon deleted. It can be accessed on the Internet Archive, however.
The first tweet in the series about the hand is still up, and states: "God has placed the gift of life in your hands. From your hands tomorrow is born. From your hands peace so lacking in this country can come about. I would like to suggest some "ingredients for the future": five of them, each corresponding to a finger on your hand #ApostolicJourney."
According to Mediaite, the original middle finger tweet was replaced by one that said "third finger" instead. That tweet appears to be deleted as well. But that has stopped people from sharing screenshots of the changes:
Given that there is evidence of this tweet archived on the internet, even after it was deleted, we rate this claim a "Correct Attribution."