Pope Benedict is now tweeting in eight languages.
Last week, the Vatican revealed that the Pope had joined Twitter. Though he managed to amass hundreds of thousands of followers in just a few days, the @pontifx Twitter feed remained unused until today. Today, Pope Benedict sent his first message out into the Twitterverse. The message expressed gratitude for the positive feedback he has received since joining the micro-blogging service and, of course, included a blessing.
"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," he tweeted.
Roughly one hour later, Pope Benedict began to tweet about how people can better celebrate their faith on a day-to-day basis. Since this morning's first tweet, Pope Benedict has sent out a total of seven tweets. However, it seems he hasn't quite gotten the hang of hashtags, as he hasn't used a single one since he started tweeting, which is a bit of a missed opportunity, considering the amount of responses he's probably getting.
So far, almost 850,000 people are following the Pope on Twitter. According to a New York Times article posted last week, The Vatican is hoping that the Pope's foray into the wild world of social media will help the church connect with young people. The Pope has a total of eight accounts, which he uses to send out tweets in different languages. If you combine the number of followers across all eight accounts, Pope Benedict has surpassed a million followers on Twitter.
The Washington Post reports that a Twitter employee was on hand when the Pope sent out his first tweet. According to a Vatican spokesperson that spoke to the Post, his first tweet was all his own words. No word on whether subsequent tweets were sent by a Vatican spokesperson or were also penned by Pope Benedict.
Huh..... 850,000 Catholics seem to disagree
I think the worldwide number is closer to a billion, I bet most of the people who are sub'd right now aren't even catholic, they're just doing it for the lulz.
Either way, if you told that to the pope (or most any of them) I don't think they'd take your word for it, aoneone.
...Is he God? Or are his suckling-zombie followers not worthy of God's blessin'?
When will atheists learn that there are greater things that only faith, not science, can explain?
Nope.... You're just not smart enough to figure things out.
When will atheists and religious people learn that it doesn't matter, either way the Pope gets to live like a god whether there is one or not.
In a story about the pop, that is just awesome. These spam bots are getting hella smart!
So it was magic that brought Jesus back to life? A space wizard in white robes you say?
If by positive you mean hiding the rampant corruption within the church? Or hiding pedophile priests, by relocating them to other countries to avoid prosecution (he did this a LOT when he was a bishop)? Which positive message do you think he is spreading right now?
btw: I used to be a catholic, but got sick and tired of all the corruption and double talk within the church. Do as I say, not as I do. That is the Catholic moto.
Naughty, naughty: clip out the URL before posting (bonus points for replacing it with something imaginative)...but yeah, I thought someone was being a smart@$$ before I realized it was mere coincidence...
When will Christians learn that atheism and disbelief of your ludicrous and impossible worldview are not the same thing?