Pope Francis has apologized after slapping the hand of a woman who wouldn't let go of him, and the memes are already rolling in.
It happened on New Year's Eve as the pope was greeting a crowd of people in Vatican City. One rather eager woman grabbed his hand, yanked him toward herself, and clutched onto him.
The pope responded by swatting at her before she let go.
WATCH: Disgruntled Pope Francis pulls himself free from a woman's clutch in Vatican City https://t.co/2nap3R0iQ4
Frankly, he looked pretty upset about the whole thing.
The video immediately spread all over the world, with people eager to weigh in on whether the pope was right to respond as he did or if he had overreacted. Or if this means we should all feel free to slap people.
This is a big moment for Catholics because as everyone knows all of the pope's actions are infallible according to church teaching, therefore we now have moral license to slap whoever we want
In any case, Pope Francis apologized for the now-viral moment on Wednesday before celebrating Mass.
"We lose patience many times," he said, according to CBS. "It happens to me too. I apologize for the bad example given yesterday."
While the Vatican probably now considers the matter laid to rest, the internet is not done making memes and jokes about the slap-happy pope.
The Pope when He smacks a lady's hand
When your friends tryin' to make you stay at the club but you gotta make curfew. #popeslap
[finding out how the pope defended himself] this guy fuckin slaps
Pope Francis with his cat:
What’s the point of being pope if you can’t slap anyone you want
May your 2020 be blessed with bountiful memes, and may it slap harder than 2019.