Pope to begin tweeting from Dec 12

December 03, 2012 - Pope Benedict XVI will start tweeting next week in six languages from his own personal handle on Twitter @pontifex. The Vatican said Monday that the pope will start tweeting on December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He will be using a question and answer format in his first Tweet, focusing on answering questions about faith - in 140 characters. The tweets will be going out in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French. Other languages will be added in the future. The pope sent his first tweet last year from a Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal. The Vatican's communications adviser Greg Burke told a press conference that the handle @pontifex was chosen for the pope's personal account because pontifex in Latin means pontiff as well as bridge-builder, suggesting unity. "We are going to get a spiritual message,” Burke said. “The pope is not going to be walking around with a Blackberry or an iPad and no one is going to be putting words into the pope's mouth.” “He will tweet what he wants to tweet," Burke said. Primarily the tweets will come from the contents of his weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays. They will also include reaction to major world events, such as natural disasters. Regarding the frequency of the Pope’s tweets, Burke said “as often as he wants.” The Vatican has been increasing its presence in social media to try to spread the faith, particularly among the young.