About

By The Pope! refers to a series of three-panel exploitables expressing shock. In the first panel, a stock image of a crusader is shown under the caption "Greetings Peasants, how goes th-." The dash in the phrase indicates that the middle panel, the meme's punchline, has interrupted the crusader's dialogue. The third panel features a deep fried image of the crusader with the caption "By the Pope," which expresses the knight's surprise.

Origin

The earliest known usage of the meme was posted by iFunny ^[1] user JosephtheGerman to express anti-refugee, nationalist beliefs as the crusader is shocked by protestors holding a sign that reads, "REFUGEES WELCOME STOP RACISM!." Within two years, the post has received more than 100 upvotes.

Spread

Over the next month, more variations of the format appeared on iFunny, typically reserving the middle panel for something sexual in nature (examples below, left).

On June 18th, iFunny^[3] user ByThePope_2016 posted a version in which the middle panel was a tweet about tampon user and menstruation. The post (shown below, center) received more than 495 upvotes in two years.

Later that year, on October 5th, Memedroid^[2] user JoloJuha posted a variation in which the middle panel features a tweet from a pro-Hillary Clinton furry Twitter account. The post (shown below, right) received more than 1,500 points (92% upvoted).

On May 7th, 2018, Redditor ^[4] MacroMike published a version of the meme using the character The Soldier from Team Fortress 2. The post (shown below) received more than 3,000 points (97% upvoted) with three months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References