Many were left surprised on the weekend, not because of new rules from the Vatican, but because of an Apple Watch.
When Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, attended a recent Mass, a lot of people online noticed the Apple Watch on his wrist.
On May 8, the pontiff became officially active and he has just asked for peace in Ukraine and Gaza, proposing truces, freedom for hostages and greater humanitarian aid. He also acknowledged the good work accomplished by the recent India-Pakistan ceasefire agreement. This time, everyone was talking about tech, rather than geopolitics.
Pictures from the recent Mass reveal the pope wearing his usual vestments, giving a blessing with his right hand and wearing an Apple Watch on his left wrist.
Naturally, the media world’s attention turned to Twitter.
“Seeing Alex in an Apple Watch always makes me laugh,” one commenter said.
Having the Pontiff represented with an Apple Watch looks very unusual.
“The Apple Watch is really humorous,” said another.
It’s not the first time that people have paid attention to the Pope’s watches. After he won, people using eagle-eared eyes saw indications of a smartwatch in different appearances of the president. Apple-centered website 9to5Mac posted a full picture of the iPhone case and people started to discuss it on Instagram.
After Pope Leo XIV was seen wearing an Apple Watch while officiating his first mass, the tech and watch communities are talking about it. We don’t know which model is being used here. Any guesses?”
Celebrity Apple fans responded right away by readily retweeting Pope Francis’s post, making it clear: the leader of the Catholic Church uses an Apple Watch.
A user on Reddit discovered an earlier photo of Leo XIV blessing a parishioner, also with the same watch.
“In his very first Holy Mass, Pope Leo XIV wore an Apple Watch, the same watch he had donned as a Cardinal before his election,” the post highlighted.
Seeing this is very odd; the old rituals blended with modern technology. Yet, maybe there is something to it. In a world where your grandma is wearing a pedometer, do you really think the pope should be any different?
Only one question remains: what’s the number of steps he needs to reach daily?
