Pope Benedict XVI posts first tweets, admonishes followers

Pope Benedict XVI lived up to his promise on Wednesday by posting his first set of tweets to hundreds of thousands of followers.
The Vatican had indicated on December 3, 2012 that the pope had opened a major Twitter account in English and others in Italian, French, German, Polish, Portuguese, Arabic and Spanish.
The Vatican also said the Catholic pontiff would begin tweeting on December 12 via @Pontifex.
The 85-year-old pope pronounced a blessing in the first 140-word tweet.
He wrote, “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.
As at the time of posting his second tweet, the account had risen to 709,610 followers.
USA Today reports that he launched his first tweet at the end of his weekly general audience.
The text of the tweet, in Italian, flashed on the jumbo screens in the modernist Pope Paul VI Hall, where the audience was held.
Then, about an hour later, he answered the first of thousands of questions sent to him in the past nine days.
It went out to someone in the United States, who asked in English, “How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?”
The pope responded thus: “By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need.”
His tweets are in keeping with his teaching on Advent on Wednesday morning, that God “comes to us in different ways.”
He is expected to answer two more questions in the course of the day, in two other languages from two other continents, sent to him with the hashtag #askpontifex, says Greg Burke, the Vatican’s communications strategist.
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