Pope Benedict Thanks Over One Million Twitter Followers With First Tweet
- 11 years ago
After weeks of anticipation, Pope Benedict put his finger to a tablet on Wednesday (December 12) to send his first tweet.
The first try didn't seem to work. Apparently the pope, who still writes his speeches by hand, needed a little help from his friends.
Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli of the Vatican's communications department was seen showing him how to do it.
His introduction to the brave new world of Twitter read,
"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.”
The pope already had just over a million followers in all of the languages combined minutes before he sent his first tweet and the number was growing.
"You know, we're really delighted with the way things have happened because the pope reached a million followers right before his very first tweet and the very first tweet of course was just really a 'welcome, I'm glad to be here with all of you' so sort of an introduction and now during the day there are going to be the questions and answers about faith," Senior Communications Adviser to the Vatican Greg Burke told Reuters Television following the event.
The tweets will be going out in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French, with other languages, set to be added in the future.
The pope's Twitter page is designed in yellow and white - the colors of the Vatican, with a backdrop of the Vatican and his picture.
The first try didn't seem to work. Apparently the pope, who still writes his speeches by hand, needed a little help from his friends.
Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli of the Vatican's communications department was seen showing him how to do it.
His introduction to the brave new world of Twitter read,
"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.”
The pope already had just over a million followers in all of the languages combined minutes before he sent his first tweet and the number was growing.
"You know, we're really delighted with the way things have happened because the pope reached a million followers right before his very first tweet and the very first tweet of course was just really a 'welcome, I'm glad to be here with all of you' so sort of an introduction and now during the day there are going to be the questions and answers about faith," Senior Communications Adviser to the Vatican Greg Burke told Reuters Television following the event.
The tweets will be going out in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French, with other languages, set to be added in the future.
The pope's Twitter page is designed in yellow and white - the colors of the Vatican, with a backdrop of the Vatican and his picture.