The Vatican has said it is investigating after the Pope's official Instagram account "liked" a photo of a scantily clad Brazilian model.

It is unclear when the account "liked" the image of Natalia Garibotto, who was dressed up in a school uniform outfit.

News outlets first started reporting the move last Friday, before the image was "unliked" on the platform.

Pope Francis: Vatican investigates Brazilian model Instagram photo like https://t.co/KmQrHsQu7n

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 20, 2020

Officials in the Holy See are now reportedly investigating how this could have happened on the Pope's account.

The Papal Press office told the BBC that "as far as we know the 'like' did not come from the Holy See". The Vatican was working with Instagram to establish where it came from, it added.

The Pope's official Instagram account, which is under the user name franciscus, has 7.4 million followers worldwide.

Sources close to the Vatican's press office told the Catholic News Agency on Tuesday that the accounts were "managed by a team of employees" and an internal investigation was now under way.

Ms Garibotto - who is also a streamer on the gaming website Twitch - told one Instagram follower she was "excited" about the "like" as she was religious.

"At least I'm going to heaven," she tweeted.