Pope Leo XIV is back on social media, with a message of peace

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Pope Leo XIV is back on social media, with a message of peace

2025-05-14 09:34 Last Updated At：09:41

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV has taken over the Vatican’s official social media handles, with a first Instagram post on Tuesday repeating the first words he said to the world as pope: “Peace be with you all!”

The @Pontifex – Pope Leo XIV post featured some of the photos that have documented the first days of history’s first American pope.

The Vatican said it was archiving the posts from Pope Francis ’ 12-year papacy. On X, the new account didn’t appear to be active Tuesday.

The Vatican launched the @Pontifex handle in 2012 during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. It now comes in nine languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Polish, Arabic, and Latin -- and counts a combined 52 million followers.

Past popes didn't actually send the posts, which were curated by the Vatican.

The former Cardinal Robert Prevost occasionally posted on X in an account started in 2011. It had been dormant since July 2023 but came back to life earlier this year to share criticism of Trump administration migration policies and comments by Vice President JD Vance.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Preliminary results show Prime Minister Kurti's party won Kosovo snap vote convincingly

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The party of Kosovo 's Prime Minister Albin Kurti won an early parliamentary election Sunday in the Balkan country by a clear margin, near-complete preliminary results showed.

The Vetevendosje, or Self-Determination, party won nearly 50% of the ballots, far ahead of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo with 21%, and the Democratic League of Kosovo with nearly 14%, the state election, authorities said after some 96% of the ballots were counted.

The snap ballot on Sunday was scheduled after the Self-Determination party failed to form a government despite also winning the most votes in a Feb. 9 election (is this correct?).

It was not immediately clear whether the Self-Determination party has won 61 seats in the 120-member parliament to be able to rule alone.

The previous postelection stalemate marked the first time Kosovo could not form a government since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a 1998-99 war that ended in a NATO intervention.

Kosovo has not approved a budget for next year, sparking concern over the already poor economy in the country of 2 million people.

Lawmakers also are set to elect a new president in March as current President Vjosa Osmani’s mandate expires in early April. If this fails too, another snap election must be held.

After voting Sunday, Kurti urged Kosovo’s 1.9 million voters to turn out in large numbers to grant “more legitimacy for our institutions.”

“Once the election result is known, we will do our best to constitute a new parliament as soon as possible and to proceed with the election of the new government,” he said.

Turnout was at around 44%, according to the state election authorities.

According to Kosovo’s election laws, 20 parliamentary seats are automatically assigned to ethnic Serb representatives and other minority parties.

Opposition parties have accused Kurti of authoritarianism and of alienating Kosovo’s U.S. and European Union allies since he came to power in 2021.

Lumir Abdixhiku from the Democratic League of Kosovo urged voters to “move away from the gloom, the deadlock and the division that has accompanied us for these years.”

A former political prisoner during Serbia’s rule in Kosovo, the 50-year-old Kurti has taken a tough stand in talks mediated by the European Union on normalizing relations with Belgrade. In response, the EU and the United States imposed punitive measures.

Kurti has promised to buy military equipment to boost security.

Ilmi Deliu, a 71-year-old pensioner from the capital, Pristina, said he hoped the election will bring a change or “we will end up in an abyss.”

“Young people no longer want to live here,” he said.

Tensions with restive ethnic Serbs in the north exploded in clashes in 2023 when scores of NATO-led peacekeepers were injured. In a positive step, ethnic Serb mayors this month took power peacefully there after a municipal vote.

Kurti has also agreed to accept third-country migrants deported from the United States as part of tough anti-immigration measures by the administration of President Donald Trump. One migrant has arrived so far, authorities have told The Associated Press.

Kosovo has one of the poorest economies in Europe. It is one of the six Western Balkan countries striving to eventually join the EU, but both Kosovo and Serbia have been told they must first normalize relations.