Vatican City, Dec 12, 2012 / 10:03 am
Pope Benedict XVI made his debut on Twitter today, sending out a greeting and a blessing as his first tweet to his "followers."
"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," read his first tweet, sent around noon Rome time from the Paul VI Hall.
He sent his tweet on a mobile tablet device at the end of his Dec. 12 general audience.
His account, @pontifex, already has over 1.2 million followers, with accounts in eight languages. The English-language feed alone has more than 852,000 followers.