Pope Leo XIV made his first social media post on Tuesday in which he sent a message of peace, as he seeks to maintain an active social media presence through the official papal accounts.
The pontiff 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 press release.
In his first post since taking over the Vatican’s official Instagram and X accounts, he repeated the first words he said to the world as pope.
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“Peace be with you all!” he began in an Instagram post.
The post featured some of the photos showing the first days of his time as the new pope, after he took over from his predecessor, Pope Francis, who died last month at the age of 88.
“This is the first greeting spoken by the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd,” the Instagram post continued. “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.”
The Vatican said it was archiving the posts from Francis’ 12-year papacy. The new X account did not appear to be active yet as of Wednesday morning.
Previous popes did not publish the posts themselves, as they were curated by the Vatican.
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Before he was elected as pope, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost occasionally posted on an X account started in 2011. It had been inactive since July 2023 before he returned to the platform earlier this year to criticize the Trump administration’s immigration policies and comments by Vice President JD Vance, who had also been at odds with Francis in his final months over the administration’s immigration agenda that included a mass deportation plan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
