Pope Francis ‘rapping’ picture goes viral

AN image of Pope Francis holding a microphone and looking for all the world like a global hip hop superstar has gone viral.

Pope Francis dropping beats in Bangui in the Central African Republic. Picture: AFP/Getty

The wonderfully-timed snap of the Pope was taken at a camp for displaced people in the Central African Republic.

The pontiff visited the camp, in the country’s capital of Bangui, as part of his six-day tour of Africa.

And the image - more Father Ted than Holy Father - led to people on Twitter captioning the photo with their own rap lyrics using the hashtag #PopeBars, which is trending on the social media site.

American hip hop artist Talib Kweli got involved, tweeting: “Battle skills got the Papal seal. You know the deal, I keeps it real no ceilings on the popemobile.”

M. Salinas offered: “Small-time atheist, fall back with your evil, God’s in my squad, and my crib’s a cathedral.”

Avid Re-ville posted: “From Jesus of Nazareth to the resurrection of Lazarus all across Vatican City my flow is hazardous”.

And @YahBoiSelfie came up with: “I’ve got 99 problems and a sin ain’t one,” a play on lyrics by US rapper Jay-Z.