The whole world was waiting for a cloud of white smoke to come out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, and is it did a loud cheer emerged out from the thousands of people gathered at the St Peter’s Square. It was a similar situation in the online world when the official and verified Pontiflex Twitter account tweeted “HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM.”
Within a matter of time, the tweet was retweeted and added to ‘favorites’ by thousands of followers, with several replies pouring in every second. The tweet “HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM,” is roughly translated into “We have a Pope Francis.”
This is first time ever a Pope was officially announced on the social media site, simply proving how informative and important Twitter can be in terms of spreading breaking news as quickly as possible to the world.
The Catholic Church set up the official and verified Pontiflex Twitter account during the service of Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict, immediately after he stepped down due to health issues, deleted all of his tweets. We are yet to be clear if the Catholic Church will follow the same procedure every time a new Pope is elected.
