Twitter blessed as Pope issues first tweet
Pope Benedict XVI has become the latest convert to Twitter after the Catholic figurehead dusted off his iPad to make his first ever tweet.
Addressing the online community the Pope typed: "Dear Friends, I just launched http://t.co/fVHpS9y Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI."
The message formed part of a publicity drive geared toward alerting the faithful to a news portal launched by the Vatican, whilst also dishing out regular140 character prayers and blessings to the faithful.
News.va is a news aggregator designed by the Vatican to bring its various print, online, radio and TV channels together in one place.
Despite a reputation for stuffiness Benedict was introduced to the miracle of social media by Thaddeus Jones, the Vatican’s very own Council for Social Communications.