What you'll see on the pope's personal X account — and why it matters
A version of this article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.
Soon after Pope Leo XIV emerged on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday, my husband sent me a screenshot of his X account.
At first, I didn't believe the picture was real — Did the new pope really share an article from National Catholic Reporter, the same National Catholic Reporter that I regularly read?
I was amazed to realize that the Catholic Church had just reached a historic milestone: For the first time, it had selected a pope who used X before he was pope.
Pope Benedict XVI started using what was then called Twitter in 2012 with an official @Pontifex account. Pope Francis inherited that account and used it with the help of communications advisers over the past 12 years. (He didn't use computers on his own, per The Washington Post.)
According to X, Robert Prevost (@drprevost) joined the social media site in August 2011. His bio reads, 'Católico, agustino, Obispo,' referring to his religion, his Catholic order and one of his past roles in the church (bishop.)
In recent years, he hasn't posted that often, but what's on his page is raising more than a few eyebrows.
That's primarily because of the political nature of his posts. He's shared several articles and quotes that criticize the first and second administrations of President Donald Trump.
Count that National Catholic Reporter article among them. It's titled, "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others," and explores tensions between the vice president and Catholic leaders over the Trump administration's approach to immigration.
Over the past few years, Pope Leo also shared several updates about his predecessor, including calls for prayer for Pope Francis during his hospitalization in February and March, and commentary on challenges affecting Christians around the world.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance did not reference Pope Leo's social media activity in their statements on his election. But other conservatives did, including Laura Loomer, who criticized Pope Leo's posts and called him a 'Marxist puppet,' according to NBC News.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the @drprevost account remains active on X and has more than 530,000 followers. The @Pontifex account, used by Pope Francis and Pope Benedict before him, says it's been archived.
But the @Pontifex account on X is expected to be active again soon. The Vatican announced Tuesday morning that Pope Leo will use it, along with a new papal account on Instagram.
'The content published by Pope Francis (on X) will be archived on a special section of the Holy See's institutional website,' the Vatican said.
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What's in a name? In the Catholic Church, quite a bit.
A new pope's name choice is generally understood to signify what type of pope he wants to be.
By choosing to be Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost was telling the world that he is focused on the church's social justice teachings, according to Religion News Service.
'The last pope of this name, Leo XIII, reigned as the world had been transformed by the Industrial Revolution. He set the church on the path of defending the working classes and calling for a more just economy. Leo XIII set the foundation upon which other popes and the Second Vatican Council built what is today's Catholic social teaching,' the article said.
The new Pope Leo confirmed that he wanted to continue the work of Pope Leo XIII when meeting with cardinals on Saturday. The rise of artificial intelligence creates many of the same ethical challenges as were seen during the Industrial Revolution, he said, per The New York Times.
Then, during his first Sunday blessing as pope, Pope Leo showed that his heart is with suffering people when he called for peace in Ukraine, as well as in India, Pakistan and Gaza.
'I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,' he said, per Religion News Service. 'Let everything possible be done to achieve genuine, just and lasting peace as soon as possible.'
Pope Leo XIII and Pope Leo XIV are also linked by their unique relationships to major changes in the media landscape, as I discovered while researching my intro about the new pope's X account.
While the current Pope Leo was the first to join X before becoming pope, Pope Leo XIII was the first pope to appear on film. He reigned from 1878 to 1903.
I loved this story angle from The New York Times: Reporters visited Catholic churches with direct ties to Pope Leo to speak with worshippers about one of their own becoming the pope.
Catholic leaders and the Justice Department are fighting back against a new law in Washington state that would require priests to break the seal of confession to report child abuse to secular law enforcement. The Justice Department has called the law 'anti-Catholic' and the Archdiocese of Seattle has said it will excommunicate priests who comply, per CBS News.
The legal settlement between Yeshiva University officials and members of an LGBTQ student club has fallen apart less than two months after it was announced, according to New York Jewish Week. Officials at the Jewish school will no longer recognize the club, although students say it won't disband.
Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter died on Thursday at age 85. I spent part of Friday reading about his legal legacy, including discussions of why he ended up in the court's liberal wing after being appointed by a Republican president. 'If his footprints through the court's various doctrinal fields were not particularly evident, there was no dispute about the fact that his vote mattered. Even as the court became more conservative and polarized, liberals managed to eke out some important victories, most by votes of 5 to 4, which would not have been possible had he turned out to be the justice that many conservatives assumed him to be at the time of his nomination,' read his obituary in The New York Times.
Thanks to Pope Leo and The Athletic, I now know that the Vatican has a tennis court.
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