Pope Joins Twitter: 10 Best Tweets to His Holiness

Pope Benedict XVI joined Twitter — and though he has yet to post, others are tweeting at him

Pope Benedict XVI officially joined Twitter when his account was verified Monday morning.

The leader of the nearly 2,000-year-old Catholic Church — whose handle is @Pontifex, Latin for "pope" — has already attracted more than 138,000 followers and droves of tweets to him, though he has yet to post his first 140-character nugget of holy wisdom.

He's expected to issue his inaugural tweet on Dec. 12, when he begins a weekly Q&A session, answering questions tweeted with the hashtag #askpontifex, according to a statement from the Vatican. Though he won't actually write his own "pearls of wisdom"; they'll be approved, but not physically concocted, by him. 

And he may not actually want to read them, either. The 85-year-old church leader is subjecting himself to public scrutiny at a time when the church has alienated some followers with endemic child sex abuse and discouraging views on condom use.

The tweets will be translated into English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Polish and Arabic, and Chinese may soon be added.

This, by the way, isn't the pope's first Twitter account.  Another account, @Pope2YouVatican, already exists but is unverified and inconsistently maintained.

Here are 10 of the best reactions to the his Holiness joining Twitter:

1. Italian blog Spinoza: "The  joins Twitter at . If he really believed in miracles he would have joined Google+."

2. From @LOLGOP: @Pontifex's disclaimer: RTs are not confessions.

3. Parody account of German Chancellor Angela Merkel: "Apart from being German, infallible and causing people to say "Oh Christ" when I enter the room, I have nothing in common with ."

4. Comedian/Golden Globes host: Ricky Gervais: Poor old Sod. I hope the Vatican don't let him read his own timeline. He's got an idea of Hell but no idea of how cruel Twitter can be. Haha

5. Comedian Rob Delaney: ". My cousin Sean & I touched ween heads behind our grandparents’ barn when I was 7. Am I going to hell? Welcome to Tweeter!"

6. Liverpool resident Anthony Randles: ". Any idea how I can join the Hitler Youth? Are there any local branches around Liverpool?"

7. CBS radio producer E.J. Judge: "Important question for : Are microphones for A: Singing B: Swinging or C: All of the above?"

8. Comedian Frankie Boyle: ". Hi Pope. You know how the clergy are our line of communication with God? When priests shag kids does God feel it? Is he into it?"

9. BuzzFeed's Andrew Kaczynski: "Will 's Twitter account read 'RTs are not endorsements. Views are my own, but also God's.'"

10. User Louis Vertel: "Pope Benedict XVI joined Twitter as . Next he'll join Grindr as BigCardinalDaddy."

Comments