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 –and some Twitter users say, calling her ‘Bruja’— before she let go.

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.

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.

Pope Francis apologized for the now-viral moment on Wednesday before celebrating Mass.

The incident occurred as Pope Francis made his way to the Nativity scene in Vatican City. On Wednesday, the Pontiff apologized for losing patience with the worshiper before using his New Year’s Day address to denounce violence against women.”Love makes us patient.” “We lose patience many times,” he said, according to CBS. “It happens to me too. I apologize for the bad example given yesterday.”

The Pontiff continued in his address: “Women are sources of life. Yet they are continually insulted, beaten, raped, forced to prostitute themselves and to suppress the life they bear in the womb. “Every form of violence inflicted upon a woman is a blasphemy against God, who was born of a woman.”

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.

Since becoming pontiff in 2013, Francis has preached openness – a reform-minded agenda that has irritated a small but vocal group of ultra-conservatives in the church. During the New Year’s Eve Vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis urged people to practice more solidarity.

The memes keep rolling in, days after the incident —and we’re not getting tired of them just yet.

I think all of us have experienced this literally in our lives. At least anyone who has a cat, has been around a cat, knows someone who has a cat or has scrolled Facebook videos for more than 60 seconds. Am I right?

How about this one? 

Then there’s this slice of heaven that pretty much sums up what happened…

May your 2020 be blessed with bountiful memes, and may it slap harder than 2019.

During his address on Wednesday, the Pontiff also spoke about gender equality, telling the congregation that women “should be fully included in decision-making processes.” “Every step forward for women, is a step forward for humanity as a whole.”