Enterprising 12-Year-Old Clicks Selfie With The Pope, Leaves Twitter Impressed

A 12-year-old Irish girl managed to do what very few have done before her -get a selfie with the Pope. Alison Nevin from Dublin has been inundated with messages ever since her selfie with Pope Francis was shared online two days ago. According to RTE News, the enterprising 12-year-old hid her phone up her sleeve before boldly asking the Pope for a selfie at the World Festival of Families concert during the Pope's historic visit to Ireland.

Alison says she was determined to get the selfie.

"I asked a crew member and they said 'No, I wasn't allowed to take one' and then I snuck it up my arm and I took it out when I got up there and then I asked," she tells RTE News.

"First I said 'Can I take a picture with you?' and he looked at me and then I had to point at my phone to ask him...and then he said to me 'Yeah' and then we took it and the crowd went mad!"

You can watch a video of the whole incident below:

Pope Francis poses for a selfie during the Festival of the Families #popeinireland pic.twitter.com/HoT1wODmbS

- RT News (@rtenews) August 25, 2018

The actual selfie was shared on Twitter by Alison's cousin, Kathleen.

Sooo.. My cousin Alison took a #selfie with the Pope. I probably would have dropped the camera but fair play to her she asked and she got it #Traveller #PopeinIreland pic.twitter.com/Pnohyg5895

- Kathleen Lawrence (@katiesunshine26) August 26, 2018

Since being shared online, the papal selfie has collected over 5,000 'likes' and hundreds of amused and impressed comments. In fact, reactions to the selfie have even been curated into their own Twitter Moment.

Here is what people had to say:

If that's not selfie of the century then nothing is

- Mark McManus (@revolution7476) August 27, 2018

If you don't ask, you don't get !

- Johndottir (@MissJCannon) August 26, 2018

Leaving all the shit aside for a moment , I'm delighted for this girl. I obviously means a lot to her

- Mike (@dutchingmarkets) August 27, 2018

She's my hero

- shane (@shanecenters) August 27, 2018

It also encouraged others to share their own "selfies" with the Pope, though nobody was as successful as Alison:

My dad got a selfie with the pope here it is enjoy pic.twitter.com/dgdBIz5Pio

- cor (@ceeeeeva) August 26, 2018

Very disappointed by my Pope with Pope selfie. Will try again later. #popeinireland pic.twitter.com/lj3A29fBgV

- Conor Pope (@conor_pope) August 25, 2018

And here's my very own selfie with the Pope (closest I'm ever likely to get!) @WMOF2018 pic.twitter.com/2RY3NOQc9E

- Family Life Ministry (@ministry_family) August 25, 2018

This, however, is not the first time that Pope Francis has posed for a selfie. The first papal selfie ever was clicked in 2013, when the Pope broke protocol and posed for a selfie with a group of teenagers visiting the Vatican.