A graffiti depicting Pope Francis as Superman and holding a bag with a writing which reads: 'Values' is seen on a wall of the Borgo Pio district near St. Peter's Square in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014. It wasn't enough that Pope Francis was named Time magazine's 'Person of the Year' or that he fronted this week's Rolling Stone magazine. Now there's SuperPope graffiti sprouting up around the Vatican. The white caped crusader appeared Tuesday on a wall just off Borgo Pio, a tiny cobble-stoned street near St. Peter's Square. In typical superhero fashion, Francis' right fist is thrust in the air, leading him in flight, while his left clutches his black satchel. 'Valores,' or values in Spanish, is written across it. The artist is identified only as Maupal. Francis has charmed the masses with his simplicity and message of helping the poor, even as he has cracked down on Vatican waste and corruption. The Vatican communications office approved of the image, tweeting a photo Tuesday. AP photo
Pope Francis as superman, flying through the air with his white cape billowing out behind him, the image graffitied by an anonymous artist onto a wall in Rome was tweeted by the Vatican today.
Speeding forwards with his fist raised, the heroic pontiff -- crucifix swinging in the wind -- carries his trademark black bag, with the word "values" written across it, in Spanish, in white letters.
"We share with you a graffiti found in a Roman street near the Vatican," the Pontifical Council for Social Communications from the Holy See said on its official Twitter page.
The 77-year-old Argentine pontiff is renowned for throwing off his security and plunging into the crowds to greet pilgrims, and often uses jokes or stories to spread the values of the Church.
The pope is a keen Twitter user himself, regularly posting tweets on his own feeds in nine languages, which boast more than 10 million followers in total.
