The Digital Legacy of Pope Francis: Tweets, Apps, and a Global Conversation

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, passed away at 7:35 a.m. this morning at the age of 88, after a long convalescence due to pneumonia. The 266th pontiff of the Catholic Church stood out for his closeness and efforts to renew the religious institution during his 12 years in office. Social media played a key role in this adaptation to modern times, which is why we want to take a look back at Pope Francis’s digital strategy.

Renewal and digitalization

Keeping up with the times means building a solid digital ecosystem that fosters two-way communication with your audience. In other words, allowing you to reach your audience with your messages and, in turn, enabling them to access relevant information about you.

During Francis’s papacy, this aspect was particularly strengthened through the creation of social media profiles, the presentation of multimedia content, and even the launch of an app.

A social profile that’s close, reflective, and full of hope

The @Pontifex Twitter account was the Holy See’s first social media profile, launched in December 2012 during Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy with the message in English: «Dear friends, it is a pleasure to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart». That pontiff, however, only used it for two more months until his resignation on February 28, 2013.

Shortly after the launch of this profile, specific versions for various countries and languages were released (just like any major commercial brand would do). In the case of Spain, for example, the profile used is @Pontifex_es, which currently has 18.6 million followers. Other official accounts include: @Pontifex with 18.3 million followers; @Pontifex_it with 5.2 million; @Pontifex_pt with 5 million; and @Pontifex_ln, a specific Latin account, with 1 million.

Pope Francis used Twitter as a tool for evangelization, sharing messages centered on Jesus as the core of Christian life and on universal Christian values. His tweets also invited reflection and dialogue, encouraging conversation and engagement.

As for his tone on the platform, it closely mirrored his usual language, being clear, emotional, hopeful, meaningful, and concise. That is, he managed to retain his personality while adapting to the social space and the need for short, direct messaging.

I thank you very much for your prayers. I too am praying for you, and I ask you to entrust all those who suffer to the Lord together with me, especially those affected by war, poverty or natural disasters. #Angelus

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 13, 2025

But it didn’t stop at Twitter. Over the years, Pope Francis expanded his presence on social platforms. In December 2015, the YouTube channel “The Pope Video” was launched. Every month, a video is published in which the Pope offers a prayer intention dedicated to a specific cause (families in crisis, right to education, refugees, etc.).

This channel is a global initiative of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer), an Official Institution of the Vatican, and has 49,300 subscribers.

A few months after joining YouTube, the pontiff joined Instagram in March 2016. Since then, he has built a strong community of 9.9 million followers on the platform.

In this case, unlike Twitter, there is a single account centralizing all communication. In the captions of his Feed posts, he includes his messages in various languages, usually: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Polish, and German.

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A post shared by Pope Francis (@franciscus)

Click To Pray, an app for communal prayer

The ability to connect and create bonds is one of the main advantages of digital tools, and the Catholic Church leveraged this to strengthen the sense of unity and belonging among its faithful through the creation of Click To Pray. This is a mobile app launched in November 2014, available for iOS and Android, which allows users to follow the Pope’s monthly prayer intentions and share their own intentions and prayers with the community.

Click To Pray is another project by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and is available in 7 languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Chinese. It has over 100,000 downloads.

“Amen: Francis Responds” documentary

During his papacy, Pope Francis paid special attention to fostering a connection between the Catholic Church and young people. His concern for social issues and his approachable personality were key factors, and he had no problem engaging with people and showing that he was willing not just to speak, but to listen.

This was evident in the documentary “Amen: Francis Responds”, released on April 5, 2023, on Disney+. A production by Spain’s Producciones del Barrio, it offers an intimate, unfiltered conversation between Pope Francis and a group of 10 young people aged 20 to 25.

Over the course of the 80-minute film, viewers witness the meeting between the Pope and young people from different backgrounds with diverse life experiences, where topics such as feminism, homosexuality, the role of women in the Church, loss of faith, abuse within the Church, and more were addressed.

The documentary had a notable impact, becoming a hot topic on social media, and helped to reinforce the Pope’s warm and friendly image — which, by extension, also helped to present a fresher and more open image of the Catholic Church.

Photo: Depositphotos