ROME — Pope Benedict XVI made history today when he tweeted for the first time.
Benedict’s tweet read: “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”.
The Twitter account, which will be used by the Vatican, aggregates information from the Vatican’s various print, online, radio and television media.
It’s the latest effort by the Vatican to bring its evangelizing message to a greater, Internet-savvy audience and follows forays into Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
The pope put the site online himself by tapping an iPad.
The 84-year-old pontiff was then shown the portal and its features in greater detail.
Benedict has been bedeviled by communications woes during much of his six-year papacy, much of it the fault of a large Vatican bureaucracy that doesn’t always communicate well internally.
Officials hope the new portal, while mostly designed to provide Vatican news in an easy-to-use setting to the outside world, might also improve the Vatican’s own internal communications by sharing information.
The portal was launched for the feast day of St. Peter and Paul, which falls on June 29 but officially begins with a vesper service June 28. Wednesday also marks the 60th anniversary of Benedict’s ordination as a priest.
With AP