Pope joins tweeting masses with @Pontifex handle
BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
12/04/12 at 6:27 AM
Benedict XVI, the pope known for his hefty volumes of theology, is now trying brevity - spreading the faith through his own Twitter account.
The pontiff will tweet in eight languages starting Dec. 12 using his personal handle @Pontifex, responding live to questions about faith during his weekly general audience, the Vatican said Monday.
Within six hours of the Vatican's announcement, Benedict already had nearly 150,000 followers on the English version of @Pontifex alone, with thousands more following him in the eight other language accounts.
All that, and he hadn't even sent a single tweet.
He may never hit 1 billion faithful that the Catholic Church counts around the globe, but he's odds-on to get 1 million followers by the end of the year, British bookmakers Ladbrokes said.
The pope sent his first tweet last year from a generic Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal.
Questions for the inaugural papal tweet can be submitted to @askpontifex, and the pope will likely respond to three to five of them.
Original Print Headline: Pope joins Twitter
Associated Images:
Pope Benedict XVI: The pope will begin using his Twitter account — @Pontifex — on Monday. He will tweet in eight languages. The pontiff already has 150,000 followers and expects to have 1 million by year's end.
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