Pope ‘blesses’ 1m Web flock via tweets

Dec 13, 2012 |

Pope Benedict XVI blessed his new Internet flock on Wednesday with his first Twitter message in eight languages to the million-plus followers already signed up to receive holy tweets.

“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,” read the tweet, which the 85-year-old pontiff sent from a tablet after his weekly general audience.
With his second and third tweets, the pope provided one of the questions sent to him and replied to it. “How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?”
he wrote. “By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need,” he answered.
Since the Pope announced last week he would start tweeting under his official Latin title @pontifex, more than 683,000 people have registered to follow his main account in English.
The Pope has 174,000 followers for his Spanish account, 96,000 in Italian, 25,000 in Portuguese, 19,000 in German, 18,000 in French, 10,000 in Polish and 7,000 in Arabic.
“All the @Pontifex accounts cross one million Twitter followers minutes before the Pope sends his first tweet”, said a Twitter spokesperson.

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