Pope receives special tweet from Israeli President

(Nov. 05, 2012) Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to Twitter, after the Pontiff opened his personal handle with the microblogging social media on Monday. “Your holiness, welcome to Twitter. Our relations with the Vatican are at their best and can form a basis to further peace everywhere,'' Peres tweeted the Pope. Even though the 85-year-old Pontiff will send his first tweet on Dec. 12, he has already received more than half a million Twitter followers in 8 languages at his handle or username, @Pontifex.
The first papal tweets will be in English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French. Other languages will be added in the future. The tweets will come primarily from the contents of his weekly general audience of Wednesdays, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays. They will also include reaction to major world events, such as natural disasters.
The Vatican, whose website has been taken down by hackers in the past, said it has taken precautions to make sure the Pope’s certified account is not hacked. Only one computer in Vatican’s Secretariat of State will be used for the tweets. The Pope’s twitter page is designed in yellow and white, the colours of the Vatican, and his picture over the backdrop of a St. Peter’s Square packed with pilgrims. The page may change during liturgical seasons of the year and when the pope is away from the Vatican on trips.