Pope Leo XIV’s Deleted Twitter Account
Loves Snoopy, hates Trump
I’ve spent the past week stalking a man. From what I’ve gathered he’s kind, patient, and the breathing representation of Christ on earth. But before Pope Leo XIV won the conclave he was a Cardinal from Chicago who spent most of his life practicing his profession in Peru. His name then was Robert Prevost— Bob to friends. The 69-year- old is a White Sox fan and the youngest of 3 brothers. He’s been said to love a good steak and formally held a Twitter account: @drprevost.
As any cardinal or pope knows Mysteries are deeply important for Catholicism— the Mystery of the Trinity, for example, sustains the faith— however, from this papal appointment foward their kind can only be as mystifying as their lack of digital footprint allows them to be.
I have divided Robert Prevost’s tweets and retweets into two categories: ANTI-TRUMP and MEMES.
ANTI-TRUMP TWEETS
The new rock of the Church was active on Twitter no more than a month ago, often using social media to highlight American failures. This particular retweet refers to Trump as well as Bukele as the main actors in eliciting unjust deportations. Nayib Bukele, the Salvadorian president, is responsible for arresting 1% of his population in efforts to curb gang violence—a campaign that has shown results, but only by imprisoning 75,000 people without due process, completely eroding human rights in El Salvador.
Prevost’s retweet continues, linking to an AP News article titled, Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man ICE mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison? It then directs readers to a Catholic Standard article titled This Ordeal is the Passion.
“This ordeal” is the inhuman and aggressive persecution of migrants in the last 100 days. The article’s author, Bishop Evelio Menjivar of Washington, implores us to see the mistreatment of immigrants, like Kilmar Garcia, as a present day Passion. Menjivar plainly compares their suffering to Christ’s final journey to death. The retweet goes on to quote the Catholic Standard piece: Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet? We can assume Cardinal Prevost felt that same disbelief.
In January the Vice President stated: There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that. No, JD, you’re wrong Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others the article quoted in Cardinal Prevost’s tweet pronounces. And although what the VP expressed sounds logical—it’s inherently a faulty framework. Jesus’ definition of love is impossibly more expansive. Christ invites us to love radically, without restrictions or categorization. Prevost agreed.
God’s love does not rank humans based on who is most worthy to receive it. It is just given—repeatedly, without merit. We are called to do that same. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? (Matthew 5:46)
MEMES
The now pope was not unfamiliar with memes (in spanish pronounced meh-mehs), his main provider was Mons. Andrés Carrascosa Coso, Apostolic Nuncio in Ecuador. We can assume they are besties or were at one point, as they attended university together. Reuniting in different parts of the world like Rome, Panama, and Spain for work.
The caption in this retweet translates to Saturday Humor: The importance of social distancing... The screenshot is of a man keeping his wife six feet away from his money. It’s heartening that Prevost had a sense of humor, especially if some may interpret it as crude.
In this retweet Charlie Brown says But Snoopy, there are a lot of people who are intelligent!! Snoopy replies Of course there are, but the majority are asymptomatic!! The caption translates to Awesome Snoopy!
Like laypeople we can assume in 2020 Prevost spent a lot of time on his fresh horrors device looking at memes.
The meme text says The rosary is prayed not hung in a car. Another retweet from Carrascosa’s account, stan behavior.
The retweet’s caption translates to I have a priest friend and I pray for him on his day. It is easier to criticize priests than pray for them.
Robert Prevost has a new twitter as Pope Leo. What his office has been posting is not at all dissimilar to what he himself used to post when he was just Bob.
