From Cryptocurrencies to Memes, Social Curiosities About the New Pope

From the cryptocurrency $LEOXIV to the nearly 90 million interactions that the keywords 'Papa' and 'Pope' have collected online. From the growth of the @drprevost account on X to the many memes circulating on the Internet. With the proclamation of the new Pope Leo XIV, many curiosities have emerged online.

Among these, memecoins - cryptocurrencies linked to a meme, i.e. a viral phenomenon - with a papal theme that have started circulating on various platforms such as X and Telegram, are called $LEOXIV but also $Pope. Obviously it is not an initiative of the Vatican, the only purpose - as it was for the memecoins launched by Elon Musk - is to convince users to invest in a project by taking advantage of an important event.

Social media has responded to the election of the new pontiff. According to the analysis company Arcadia, the keywords 'Papa' and 'Pope' have collected 87.7 million interactions online in 24 hours. User sentiment shows a positive attitude (89.2%) and the X profile @drprevost, which until yesterday was the official one of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, has grown in 24 hours by 75 thousand followers.

Users have created many viral contents, some refer to his hometown, Chicago, others to the Conclave. The one that has received the highest number of interactions (comments, reactions and shares) in Italy is the one that places Leo XIV alongside Roma coach Claudio Ranieri (it was published by the Instagram account Autogol, it received 236,276 reactions in 24 hours).

The most viewed video on TikToK, with three million views, is the one in which the Bishop of the Diocese of Beaumont, Davide Toups, lets out a joyful 'Oh my God' at the announcement of the name of the new Pope (it was published on the account of the Texan broadcaster Kfdm).

According to the Arcadia company, the official accounts of the Dicastery of Communication in English have grown the most since the beginning of the Conclave. The Facebook page has grown by 458 thousand new followers and the Instagram account by 354 thousand new followers. With the hashtag #habemuspapam, 28,200 videos have been published in the last 24 hours; with #papaamericano, 17,400 videos have been published; with the hashtag #newpope, 16,100 videos have been published.