The Twitter account @Pontifex that Pope Francis uses to communicate with his followers was first started by Pope Benedict XVI in December 2012. Pope Francis has tweeted over 600 times compared to his predecessor who only sent 39 tweets. According to the Catholic Telegraph, Pope Francis previously had a Facebook page when he was known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, but he did not manage it himself.

With over 7 million Twitter followers, Pope Francis has a following that trails only President Obama who has over 64 million followers. A study earlier this year found that, even with less followers, Pope Francis is the most influential leader in the world based on the number of messages retweeted.

Below are his most retweeted and inspiring messages:

First tweet

Service

Faith

Millennials

Prayer

Family

Climate Change

Life

Love

Christ

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