Vatican City, Nov 9, 2012 / 13:58 pm
Just after holding the synod on the New Evangelization, Vatican officials say that Pope Benedict XVI will start his own Twitter account.
The announcement of his new account, which may be launched by the end of the year, comes after bishops from around the world met in Rome to discuss ways to evangelize an increasingly secular world.
At the evangelization synod of bishops, which concluded on Oct. 28, one of the messages that emerged was that social networks and other new media environments are places where "consciences are often formed, where people spend their time and live their lives. It is a new opportunity for touching the human heart."
Pope Benedict has used Twitter before, but the one instance of that happening involved him launching a news portal for all of the Vatican's news outlets. He inaugurated that portal by tweeting, "Dear Friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI."