On December 12, 2012, Benedict XVI issued his first tweet, bestowing blessings through social media. Today, the Pope’s Twitter account is the most followed in the world.
(Vatican News Network) “Dear friends, it is a pleasure to be with you on Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless you from the bottom of my heart.” Ten years ago, on the morning of December 12, 2012, Pope Benedict X For the first time, the VI bestowed blessings on social media. Today, 10 years later, the Pope’s Twitter account @Pontifex ranks among the most followed in the world.
The Pope’s Twitter account was opened on December 3, 10 years ago, and now has 53.5 million followers. It is spread in 9 languages, namely English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Polish, Arabic, Latin. English and Spanish have nearly 19 million followers, and Italian and Portuguese have more than 5 million followers. Since January this year, the number of users following the Twitter account has increased by 800,000 compared to last year. Spanish, Portuguese and Italian language users saw the most significant growth.
Pope Francis’ tweet calling for an end to the Ukraine war was the most interacted content of the past year. In addition, the Pope also sent a message to people and groups hit by conflict and natural disasters through his tweets, asking his followers to join him in prayer. The Pope’s messages about the pandemic in the last two years have also been popular, and his speeches during this difficult time have been widely circulated on Twitter. During the 2020 pandemic, the Pope’s Twitter account @Pontifex has been viewed a total of 27 billion times.
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