(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 05.13.2025).- The Holy Father Leo XIV has chosen to maintain an active social media presence through the official papal accounts on X and Instagram.
He has inherited the @Pontifex accounts on X that were used by Pope Francis, and before that by Pope Benedict XVI, which are published in nine languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Polish, Arabic, and Latin) and count a total of 52 million followers. The content published by Pope Francis will be archived on a special section of the Holy See’s institutional website: Vatican.va.
On Instagram, the account is called @Pontifex – Pope Leo XIV, the only official account of the Holy Father on the platform, in continuity with Pope Francis’ @Franciscus account. Content posted on the @Franciscus account will remain accessible as an “Ad Memoriam” commemorative archive.
The Popes’ presence on social media began on December 12, 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI launched the @Pontifex Twitter account, which was inherited a few months later by Pope Francis. The official Instagram account, @Franciscus, was added on March 19, 2016. Pope Francis’ presence on social media was significant. Around 50,000 posts were published across the @Pontifex and @Franciscus accounts, offering near-daily accompaniment throughout Pope Francis’ pontificate with short messages of an evangelical nature and exhortations in favor of peace, social justice, and care for creation. The papal accounts stimulated widespread interaction, especially in difficult times. In 2020, a year with exceptional data due to the pandemic, the late Pope’s messages were viewed 27 billion times.
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