Like Francis, Leo will be a socmed-savvy pope

Pope Leo XIV appears at the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 11, 2025. —AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia

VATICAN CITY — The flock is assured: Pope Leo XIV will be active online and keep in touch with the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics via social media, particularly on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.

Leo inherits the official @Pontifex accounts on X used by his predecessors, Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI, according to a statement from the Vatican.

But he also has a new Instagram account, @pontifex, which already has 4.4 million followers of this writing.

The Pope’s first post on Instagram on Tuesday was taken from his first Urbi et Orbi address after his election on May 8. It also included several photos from the first days of his pontificate.

READ: Conservatives hopeful that Pope Leo XIV will restore rigor to papacy

“Peace be with you all! This is the first greeting spoken by the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd. I would like this greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families, and among all people, wherever they may be, in every nation and throughout the world,” he said in his post, which drew more than 633,000 likes in less than 24 hours.

Active presence

“The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has chosen to maintain an active social media presence through the official papal accounts on X and Instagram,” the Dicastery for Communication said in a statement Tuesday.

Currently with 52 million followers, Leo’s @pontifex account on X will have posts in nine languages—English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Polish, Arabic and Latin.

Prior to his election as pope, then Cardinal Robert Prevost was already a regular X user, using his @drprevost account since 2011. As of Wednesday, this account has attracted more than 540,000 followers.

Critical of Trump, Vance

Prevost never shied away from hot-button political issues online. His recent posts amplified criticisms of US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, called out Vice President JD Vance over his views on Christian love, and advocated racial justice.

The papal presence on social media began on Dec. 12, 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI launched the account @Pontifex on Twitter, which was inherited a few months later by Pope Francis. /cb