Well, he hasn’t started yet, but I’m sure you’re all dying to follow Ratzinger when he begins his official pontifical tweets at this Twitter site. At last check he had over 369,000 followers even though there’s only a welcome message. Of course, the Pope himself ain’t gonna follow anyone (unless God tweets!):
According to The New York Times,
Benedict is expected to send his first post at a general audience at the Vatican on Dec. 12 — a response to questions about matters of the faith that he is now accepting via the hashtag #askpontifex, officials said.
The Vatican acknowledged that it had chosen the @pontifex handle not only because of its meaning but also because many other handles had been taken.
The move is aimed at drawing in the Roman Catholic Church’s 1.2 billion followers, especially young people. “The pope’s presence on Twitter can be seen as the ‘tip of the iceberg’ that is the church’s presence in the world of new media,” the Vatican said in a statement.
Just do not expect the pope to start following you on Twitter or retweeting your posts, Greg Burke, a former Fox News correspondent in Rome who was named a Vatican communications adviser this year, said at a news conference. “He won’t follow anyone for now,” Mr. Burke added. “He will be followed.”
Of course! But this raises the thorny status of the theological force of the messages.
Aides will write Benedict’s posts, but the pope himself will “engage and approve” the content. The pope will post messages however often he feels like it. . .
Asked whether the pope’s posts would be infallible, Msgr. Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, laughed and said they would be part of the church Magisterium, or collective teaching, but should be considered “pearls of wisdom,” not exactly doctrine.
“In any case, it’s a papal teaching,” Monsignor Celli said. “The message is just entrusted to a new technology.”
What would you like to see the Pope tweet? Remember, you’re limited to 140 characters.
The Christian bible is not of divine origin, but that golden rule thing is pretty good.
#BIEBERISOURGOD
Don’t use condoms !
“Sorry 4 kid rapes & coverups, wrong about abortion, contracepn, homosex, sex in gnrl, so go ahead if you want. Golden Rule good, all else optional”
(I dunno: how much of Catholicism could one repeal in only 140 characters?)
“Oh, and we borrowed the GR from the secular Greeks. But don’t forget, homosex is still a no-no.”
The GR is also in Confucious; name a society that couldn’t work without the GR.
Another thing the Catholics took from the Classical Greeks was paedophilia; little suffering children.
My one millionth follower gets a free indulgence! #infallible
Pope tweets:
Finally using new technology! Next I’ll allow men to use condoms…lol. J/k!
This is going to be interesting. I imagine it’s rare for someone like the pope to hear what people really think of him. WIth anonymity and the distance of the internet it’s not going to be a polite profile. A huge palace, bullet resistant glass and enough gold to feed Africa can’t protect you from the abuse of the internet.
Yet another reason for me not to Tweet.
As for the pope, something like: “I’m wearing a dress. It’s totally weird the stuff they make us wear. I miss trousers.”
Wot, no Latin tweet!
There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
Oops. Sign-in fail.
There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
+1
“NO ONE expects the Spanish Inquisition!!”
+1
“MPFC, funnier than JC.”
A pope who can tweet? Now THAT’s what I call evolution in action…
Indeed, bears do. #InTheWoods
So, the thing that causes me to yawn about Twitter is this: It is apparently designed to eliminate all thoughtful content. Limit you to tiny soundbites (yes, I know, haiku, etc., etc. — 99.9999% of the sludge on Twitter is not haiku …)
It’s the equivalent of letting through on Facebook only the posts of the most inane sort: “Yeah! Me too!”
And the narcissism of it! I’m so special people need to know what I’m doing right away! At all times! Look at me, look at me, look at me!
+1
pretty much sums up how I’ve felt about it.
Yeah! Me too!
Which is why I don’t tweet, I can’t imagine anyone would be interested.
Some people manage to say intelligent and worthwhile things on Twitter. It happens all the time. The trick is to pay attention to people who have things to say and ignore those who don’t.
Agreed; but the system has the wrong kind of filter to encourage intelligent interchange.
What ‘system’? What ‘filter’?
You filter it yourself. You tune in to what you want to see.
It doesn’t matter in the slightest whether Twitter ‘encourages’ intelligent interchange, whatever that could possibly mean.
Intelligent interchange nevertheless happens. *A LOT*. And it’s not too difficult to find. You just have to follow the people doing it and not follow those who aren’t. Or follow topics you’re interested in. Change who you follow or what you’re interested in by the second, if you want. Find out what everyone else is talking about. Write elaborate scripts to do your filtering if you like.
I don’t mean to evangelise Twitter – take it or leave it, I have no axe to grind – but it’s plain silly to dismiss a medium without understanding how it is used by interesting, intelligent and witty people. It’s a mistake to dismiss it without understanding its potential for communicating good stuff, making people laugh, educating people and joining together like-minded people.
I sound really preachy, don’t I? I don’t mean to, but here we are, I’m afraid.
NO REGRETS 🙂
Well said!
Far more than 140 characters …
System: Commercial web-based software you must have an account on and log into; inputs visible to other users
Filter: Extremely limited length of written message
Emphasis: Instantaneous personal updates
I can see its use for real, fast-breaking news (e.g. what’s going on in Syria) But I prefer getting my news from a source that has quality control.
html fail. There supposed to be a smiley face after the first line … 🙂
Yep: Simple rules, sophisticated game. As so often.
Dammit, now I am inspired to tweet Haikus every day (plus my usual board game drivel)!
Don’t mention the war
The Pope on Twitter?
God here. @Pascal won my Super-Lotto. Drunk on sacramental wine for 350 years now. @MotherTheresa forgave him for elevator thing. UShall RT.
Retweeted by Pope Benny
Evolution is true #infallible
Hi! This is Big Benny reaching out to all you young tweeters. Leave No Child Behind The Times. Pax from your CardinalDaddy.
[A nod to the Hitch]
Ipse loquitur pauculum verbis
I’m still shocked at the news that @thefuckingpope is a fraud!
I don’t care what the pope tweets. I prefer my comedy a little more subtle.
+1
from
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USL4N09D2VT20121203
“And, even though Benedict is not the kind of person who walks around with a Blackberry or iPad, Burke said “all the pope’s tweets are the pope’s words. Nobody is going to be putting words into his mouth.””
… sort of zen-like statement…
oops didn’t read instructions, sorry. will go home now.
hang on – I think that one works:
“All the pope’s tweets are the pope’s words. Nobody is going to be putting words into his mouth.”
“Asked whether the pope’s posts would be infallible, Msgr. Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, laughed …”
Yes, because your religion’s theological doctrines such as papal infallibility are always laughing matters! You theists are such jokers!
I was going to punctuate that post with a smiley. Then I realized that such Catholic doctrines are increasing spread of HIV in Africa. Ugh. :-/
Religion has never been a laughing matter and I can prove it.
The Dead Scrolls, The Community Rule, 1QS.
Those Essenes must have been a bundle of laughs. Imagine if they had won, and not the Catholics.
Dead Sea…d’oh.
Erm, Dead SEA…d’oh
Search “Sail Cat” on Youtube and open the first link. Basement Cat’s handiwork! -Palpatine out
I am looking at my pretty Pope Shoes. Whee.
I heard he wears Prada.
easy:
“I hereby abolish the Catholic Church.”
LOL nice haircut. @DalaiLama
“You can haz aborshunz”
+1
“the Pope himself ain’t gonna follow anyone”
The definition of “Christian” is “a follower of Christ”. So I think the Pope is down with the whole humility thing.
Unless of course you think it only counts if he follows a different “JC”?
Julius Caesar?
Jackie Chan.
James Cromwell.
Jacques Cousteau (the French Poseidon), Johnny Cash, my two daughters, John Cleese, Jane Campion, Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Cliff.
Jerry Coyne
Jean-Claude (van Damned)
Julian Clary?
/@ | Lss Vegas, NV
With the advent of toilet-tweeting invaded the bathroom, why not Vatican-tweeting?
He will just tweet urging everyone not to fight each other. That’s all Popes do.
I tweeted the pope, telling him about my book:
@Pontifex I have written a book about how Christianity doesn’t make sense http://bit.ly/T7f77x Any chance of a retweet?
I tweeted the same thing in German and Latin, just to be sure.
I wonder if he’ll respond. Shirley Phelps-Roper didn’t.
“S’up?”
Pope Tweets!
The treat that’s so tweetable,
lusciously eatable,
with that unbeatable sound!
It can’t be infallible, since the necessary formula to proclaim anything as such is more that 147 characters.
Now, what I want to know, is, are those damn Dogholics *finally* gonna follow their catechism and do what their bloody lord and master bids them do?
I predict disobedience and the resulting necessary punishments. It’s what God wants.
Blondes, brunettes or red-heads?
So many altar boys, so little time.
I’m shocked, utterly shocked I tell you that no one has yet misspelled that (wittingly or otherwise) as pontisex
‘Just finished God Is Not Great. I have to say, Hitch made some pretty good points. #confused’
Wasn’t it Hitch who said of the pope: “The sky fairy’s overdressed ambassador on Earth…?”
I doubt that he will read very many, and only the ones that his handlers bring to his attention. This will not likely connect him to the real world any more than he already is/isn’t.
I expect the true extent of the Pope’s input will be making a vague sign of the cross in the direction of a computer screen as he shuffles from one room to another.
My, my, how digital of him …
The Catholic Church can see the 21st century writing on the wall: tweet or die!
So he is following 7 others (it says in the picture) – got to wonder who. Or is it just himself in other languages.
Following three I could understand. Or one I guess (or three in one). Or perhaps 4, or 12…. but I still can’t get seven (have to check out the “playing cards in church” song again)
There are seven other pontifex accounts in different languages, pontifex_de and so on. Each follows the other seven.
Daddy needs a new pair of Pradas and a spanking fresh Umbraculum: #Begging #OopsImeancharity @ImeldMarcos @JohnSteed
I hear the CC is all atwitter.
That doesn’t seem much of a limitation, seeing how pedophile aiding and abetting Ratzinger has _no_ character whatsoever.
“Asked whether the pope’s posts would be infallible, …”
Oh lovely! That’s one cynical reporter who won’t be getting an invite to the next Papal press conference, I think. 😉
I suddenly realised just how close ‘papal’ is to ‘Paypal’.
Oooh, nice spot: any of you sinners looking for some PayPal indulgences?
:0)
@Pontifex Welcome to the Internet, where religions come to die
My parents told me to run away from old men offering tweets.
+1
I think when/if the pope does it, we can properly say that the pope twits.
Just seems more appropriate… 😉
Pope, Pope, Pontifex,
Bene, Bene, Bento,
Twitter, Twitter, Tweet,
Modern tech ain’t half neat.