Pope Benedict XVI sends first tweets

POPE Benedict XVI has posted his first comments on his main Twitter account.

Tweeting from @pontifex, the Pontiff greeted his 700,000 followers with a blessing and said he was ‘pleased to get in touch through Twitter.’

He posted: “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.”

The leader of the Catholic Church has a number of accounts for tweeting in different languages, including a Spanish language account and one in Arabic.

Pope Benedict XVI followed up his inaugural tweet with a post about the Year of Faith, asking how it could be better celebrated - and promptly answered his own question, despite a number of suggestions from his followers, by tweeting: “By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need.”

The Pope is gaining followers at a rate of around 1000 per minute, and at the time of writing, had garnered over 731,000 followers.