Pope Leo XIV official on social media, deletes personal accounts
According to a news release from the Dicastery for Communication, the Holy See's communication department, Pope Leo XIV has chosen to "maintain an active social media presence through the official pope accounts on X and Instagram."
Pope Leo XIV on social media: Before he was elected pope, Leo XIV was critical of Trump, Vance on social media
Pope Leo XIV deletes personal social media accounts
Not long after he was named pontiff, Pope Leo XIV's old social media posts begin to surface, notably an X post from February that criticized Vice President JD Vance's stance on immigration.
"JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others," Leo wrote in the post, which has since been deleted.
As of May 14, Pope Leo XIV's old social media accounts, which were under his pre-pontiff name, Robert Francis Prevost, were deleted.
Speaking to USA TODAY on May 8, Margaret Susan Thompson, a history professor at Syracuse University, expected the pontiff to switch his postings to the official pontiff accounts.
"Social media can be a minefield for divisive commentary, so I imagine he'll use it sparingly, perhaps for simple, pastoral messages (and yes, delivered on the official pope account) like holiday greetings, but not for anything controversial," Thompson said in an email.
As of May 14, the official pontiff Instagram account boasted 9.6 million followers and the X account had 10,800 followers.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
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