Welcome, Pope Benedict XVI

Monday, 3 December 2012

Today, the Vatican announced that on December 12, which is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Benedict XVI (@pontifex) will be the first Pope to join Twitter. Beginning now, people everywhere will have a chance to Tweet questions relating to faith and belief using the hashtag #AskPontifex. Questions will be curated by the Vatican staff for the Pope to respond to via his new Twitter account on December 12th in a live tweeting event at the end of his weekly audience.

Spiritual and religious leaders around the world spread their messages and maintain an exceptionally strong presence on Twitter. Perhaps not surprisingly, we see a very high level of engagement with religious and spiritual content: followers respond to these topics with replies, retweets, and clicks on links much more often than they do other subjects. From globally-recognized names to local pastors and faith groups, a wide range of spiritual leaders embrace Twitter to minister to their communities and share meaningful messages.

While @Pontifex will be the Pope’s primary account in English, he will oversee many more accounts in major languages that offer translations of his Tweets, including these:

The Pope’s presence on Twitter means that no matter where you live or where you are, you can connect with, and get inspiration directly from, one of the world’s most influential religious leaders.

Posted by Claire Diaz Ortiz (@claire)
Manager of Social Innovation