After stepping down as a Pope, the Vatican officially deleted all the tweets of Joseph Ratzinger or popularly known as Pope Benedict XVI in the Roman Catholic Church. His last tweet was “Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives”, which was posted at the official twitter of the Pope (@Pontifex) that currently has more than 1.6 Million followers already after they launched last December 12, 2012. The twitter serves as the communication of the Holy Father to the netizens, his tweets includes inspirational messages, updates on the activities of the Roman Catholic Church and several biblical verses.
Now that Benedict XVI retired and started his retreat at the Castel Gandolfo as of February 28, 8PM until he transferred to the monastery in Vatican to join the new elected Pope who will be announced before Palm Sunday. The Twitter @Pontifex with zero tweets for the mean time and with the name Sede Vacante or the seat being vacant with the profile picture of the Papal Seal and a background of the aerial shot of the St. Peter’s Square in Vatican will be the official twitter of the successor of Benedict XVI which his name will be posted and the official photo.
Just like Blessed John Paul II who extended his hands to the youth, Pontiff Emeritus Benedict XVI opened the doors of the Vatican to cyberspace trying to reach the online users and communicating with them through social media. Benedict XVI is the first Pope to have an official twitter.