Pope Leo XIV relaunched the official papal X account and quickly embarked on an impassioned tweet spree that saw him rail against war and plead for world peace.
The American pope posted for the first time from his office’s X account, @Pontifex, at around 8 a.m. eastern time on Wednesday.
“Peace be with you all!” he wrote. “This is the first greeting spoken by the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd. 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.”
Peace be with you all! This is the first greeting spoken by the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd. 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.
— Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex) May 14, 2025
After going silent for around an hour and a half, Pope Leo returned to fire off six additional tweets in the span of 13 minutes—something that President Donald Trump is fond of doing on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
“There is so much violence and so many wars in our world!” he wrote in one post. “Amid this horror that should provoke outrage—as people die in the name of military conquest—stands the call of Christ, who repeats: ‘Peace be with you!’”
In another, he called on the world’s leaders to foster peace and end wars—with the Vatican’s help.
“The Holy See is willing to help enemies meet, so they may look each other in the eye and so people may be given back the dignity they deserve: the dignity of peace,” he wrote. “With heart in hand, I say to the leaders of nations: let us meet; let us dialogue; let us negotiate!”
The posts reflect themes from Leo’s first speeches since being selected as pope by the conclave last Thursday. He has specifically pointed to the war in Gaza, the Russian-Ukraine war, and the tensions between India and Pakistan as conflicts he hopes will be brought to a lasting end.
In his first known conversation with a national leader, Pope Leo spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, offering a personal message of support for a peaceful end to the war.
As a cardinal, Leo had earned a reputation for being a quiet, thoughtful, and moderate leader—especially in contrast to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who was an outspoken advocate with a penchant for defying tradition.
However, Pope Leo’s willingness to take his views to social media—firing off a slew posts in quick succession—may set a new tone for his papacy.
While he wasn’t a frequent poster on social media before becoming pope, the occasions on which he did air his perspective to X have remerged to significant controversy since he became the Holy Father.
Back in March, Pope Leo—then Cardinal Robert Prevost—posted an article slamming Vice President JD Vance for misconstruing a Catholic concept to support the administration’s mass deportation efforts. “JD Vance is wrong,” he wrote.
Pope Leo has also made several posts critical of President Donald Trump over the years, especially his stance on immigration. Less than a month before becoming pope, he retweeted a post with a link to an article that rebuked the president for his deporting undocumented migrants without due process.
MAGA was enraged by the posts. Some far-right pundits accused the pontiff of being “anti-MAGA” and having “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Pope Leo isn’t the only member of his family who has made waves with political posts on social media.
His Floridian older brother, Louis Prevost, has reposted a video on Facebook calling former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “drunk c–t.” In another post, he suggested that supporters of former President Joe Biden needed to be “healed of their mental affliction” through prayer.
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