Untitled Document
 Some
pairings, such as peanut butter and jelly, are a match made in heaven. Others,
however, are not as perfect. The pairing between
the Pope and Twitter is one such
example. The Pope is the
symbol of the Roman Catholic Church. As
one of the oldest institutions in the world,
the Church holds very traditional and conservative views and is often slow to
accept the new and unfamiliar. To our surprise,
however, the Vatican announced last week that
the Pope, Benedict XVI, will have his own personal Twitter account!
 Twitter
is a popular social networking website
that boasts more than 300 million
members - including world leaders, politicians, athletes, and celebrities
- around the world. Now, the Pope is also one of the members. Although
he is not expected to personally write every message, he will authorize them before they
are “tweeted” - or sent - by his
aides.
 “Naturally he will approve every message,” said
Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli. Further details, such as
when the Pope’s account will be opened, were not disclosed. But the
Italian media reported that the Pope’s Twitter account will likely
be @BenedictusPPXVI.
The Pope does have some experience with Twitter. The 84-year-old Catholic
leader sent out his first ever tweet in June 2011, when he announced
the launch of a new Vatican website,
www.news.va. Media outlets reported that
the Pope was “in awe” of the technology. According
to Vatican officials, he used an iPad to launch the new website. It
features Vatican radio, television,
print and online news material.
 Many see
this as the Vatican’s latest move to embrace new technology. The
Church is trying to reach out to young Internet
users. It also has already set up YouTube and Facebook
accounts. The Church wants to get people interested and invite them to follow the message and read
the text.
“This is not the only way the Church speaks. But it’s an avenue that
is open to us,” said an official from the Vatican. “It’s one that
I think that we’re quite good at.”
With more than a billion members, the Roman Catholic Church is the
largest Christian church in the world. Benedict XVI is the 265th and
current Pope. Born Joseph
Ratzinger in Germany, he was elected on April 19, 2005, after the
death of Pope John Paul II. |
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