While Pope Francis may have a private or official email address, he does keep a publicly listed email address. Since he has an active social media presence, people who wish to contact him through modern means will not be sent a snail mail.
To contact Pope Francis via the postal service, the Vatican provides the following address:
Pope Francis Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City
Do not add "Italy" to the address. The Vatican is an independent political entity from Italy.
Despite not being able to use email, Pope Francis sees modern communication as beneficial. In January 2016, when Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the Vatican, Pope Francis delivered a speech titled "Communication and Mercy: A Fruitful Encounter" on the 50th World Day of Social Communication. Speech. In the article, he said that the Internet, text messaging and social networks are "gifts from God."
Unlike their current successors, the email addresses of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II are: benedictxvi@vatican.va and john_paul_ii@vatican.va respectively. The pair may also have other private email addresses within the Vatican.
Karol Józef Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II in 1978, before the widespread and practical use of email. The first email was written seven years before he came to power, but few outside the field of computer programming knew that computer networks existed. However, John Paul II became the first pope in history to be proficient in email, and the first pope to be canonized in centuries.
In late 2001, the Pope apologized via email for the injustices committed by the Roman Catholic Church in Oceania. The pope would have preferred to visit the Pacific nation and deliver his words of penitence in person, but email was an effective second-best option.
