Pope Francis is becoming more and more involved in the social media. Over 16 million people now follow the nine papal Twitter accounts, with those in Italian, Spanish and English leading the way. Big surprise: the account in Latin has more followers than the one in Arabic.
Pope Francis makes extensive use of Bible texts to send messages, invite people to pray or express his affection and closeness to those who are suffering.
The papale @Pontifex account was launched in eight languages by Benedict XVI on 12 December 2012. On 17 January 2013 a ninth language, Latin, was added. The new account immediately aroused great interest and attracted a surprising number of followers.
Pope Francis has defined the Internet as a gift of God but he has also warned people that it can be an instrument of isolation: “The communications environment can help us grow, or else it can cause confusion. The desire to connect with others digitally can end by isolating us from our neighbors, from those who are closest to us. And let us not forget that those who do not have access to the social media for various reasons run the risk of being excluded.”