The Pope sent out his first twitter message at the end of his general audience on Wednesday, 12 December 2012. To underscore the universality of the gesture, he was flanked by 5 children representing the world’s continents.
Immediately after blessing the crowd the Pope pressed a tablet screen and sent out the message: “Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.”
During the day, he then replied to three questions via Twitter. Vatican Radio reports that the papal account, @Pontifex, already has more than 1½ million followers in 8 languages and that a few seconds after his first message went out thousands of “retweets” came pouring in.