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On Instagram, the Pope's new account is called @Pontifex – Pope Leo XIV, and on X he continues with the profile @Pontifex

Vatican News

The Holy Father Leo XIV has decided to maintain an active presence on social media through official papal accounts on X and Instagram.

Indeed, as of today, Leo XIV collects the legacy of the X @Pontifex accounts used by Pope Francis and, previously, Benedict XVI, and which, publishing in nine languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Polish, Arabic and Latin) have a total of 52 million followers.

The content published by Pope Francis will soon be archived in the corresponding section of the Holy See's institutional website, vatican.va.

On Instagram , the new Pope's account is called @Pontifex – Pope Leo XIV , and is the only official account of the Holy Father on this platform, in continuity with Pope Francis' account, @Franciscus.

Content published 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 account on what was then Twitter; a few months later, it was revived by Pope Francis. On March 19, 2016, the official Instagram account, called @Franciscus, was added to this channel.

Pope Francis's social media activity has been significant: a total of around 50,000 posts , published across the nine @Pontifex accounts and @Franciscus. He has thus accompanied almost every day of his pontificate with brief evangelical messages or exhortations for peace, social justice, and care for creation; and he has achieved great engagement, especially during difficult times (in 2020, a year of exceptional numbers due to the pandemic, his messages were viewed 27 billion times).