Pope opens Twitter account, @pontifex, to tweet December 12
(ANSA) - Vatican City, December 3 - Pope Benedict XVI's new twitter handle, @pontifex, was announced by the Vatican on Thursday. The pope's official Twitter account will go live with his first tweet on December 12 for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Vatican said.
"The Pope's presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in the digital arena," said the Vatican in a statement. The first pontifical tweets will be responses to questions sent to #askpontifex.
So far over 46,000 people were following him.
The account will be in seven languages: Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French, with more languages forthcoming.
"This launch is also an indication of the importance that the Church gives to listening," the statement added.
The Vatican also announced that only one computer inside the Holy See would have access to the pontiff's account to protect it from hacking.
The official foray into Twitter, which surpassed 500 million users this summer, may seem out of step for the traditionalist and technology-averse pontiff.
In July 2009, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi confided that the pope, recovering from a broken wrist, opted not to use a computer because he did not know how, yet somehow managed to write the latest installment of his trilogy on the life of Jesus. Yet the pope - and his helpers - have been making a concerted effort to connect with the faithful in cyberspace for several years.
When the Vatican unveiled a Facebook page to mark the beatification of Pope John Paul II in May of last year, it was a potent sign of its willingness to make the most of social media. At the start of this year, Benedict praised social media and the Internet for offering new platforms for spiritual connection to God. 'Sites, applications and networks can help man pray and meditate,' he said in his message for the 46th World Day of Social Communications. 'Short messages, often no more than brief Bible verse, can be used to express deep thoughts,' said the pontiff, referring to Twitter's 140-character limit.
And just this February, the pontiff tweeted to the faithful to mark the second day of Lent using the temporary Twitter name @Pope2YouVatican. Early tweets are also expected to contain reflections from the Sunday Angelus and it will be the pontiff himself who indicates which content is to be summarised and hashtagged.
"The Pope's presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in the digital arena," said the Vatican in a statement. The first pontifical tweets will be responses to questions sent to #askpontifex.
So far over 46,000 people were following him.
The account will be in seven languages: Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French, with more languages forthcoming.
"This launch is also an indication of the importance that the Church gives to listening," the statement added.
The Vatican also announced that only one computer inside the Holy See would have access to the pontiff's account to protect it from hacking.
The official foray into Twitter, which surpassed 500 million users this summer, may seem out of step for the traditionalist and technology-averse pontiff.
In July 2009, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi confided that the pope, recovering from a broken wrist, opted not to use a computer because he did not know how, yet somehow managed to write the latest installment of his trilogy on the life of Jesus. Yet the pope - and his helpers - have been making a concerted effort to connect with the faithful in cyberspace for several years.
When the Vatican unveiled a Facebook page to mark the beatification of Pope John Paul II in May of last year, it was a potent sign of its willingness to make the most of social media. At the start of this year, Benedict praised social media and the Internet for offering new platforms for spiritual connection to God. 'Sites, applications and networks can help man pray and meditate,' he said in his message for the 46th World Day of Social Communications. 'Short messages, often no more than brief Bible verse, can be used to express deep thoughts,' said the pontiff, referring to Twitter's 140-character limit.
And just this February, the pontiff tweeted to the faithful to mark the second day of Lent using the temporary Twitter name @Pope2YouVatican. Early tweets are also expected to contain reflections from the Sunday Angelus and it will be the pontiff himself who indicates which content is to be summarised and hashtagged.