His first post on the image sharing site was him kneeling and the text asked users to pray for him.
Francis joins Instagram almost three years since his debut on Twitter.
Within minutes of going online his profile, 'Franciscus', had 26,000 followers with the number rising all the time.
The pontiff sent his message "pray for me" in nine languages.
Similar to his Twitter account, which has 8.89 million English speaking followers, the Pope follows no one.
The Holy Father tweeted: "I am beginning a new journey, on Instagram, to walk with you along the path of mercy and the tenderness of God."
I am beginning a new journey, on Instagram, to walk with you along the path of mercy and the tenderness of God.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) March 19, 2016