Pope's historic tweet launches Vatican News Site

"Dear Friends, I just launched [The Vatican News Site] Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI." With this tweet, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to use micro-blogging site Twitter to make an official announcement. And he also became the first pontiff to tweet from an Apple iPad.

On Wednesday, the Pope launched the Vatican's news portal, News.va, which puts its various media agencies —including the Fides News Agency, Vatican Information Service and Vatican Radio— in one site. Also in the site are videos from the Vatican's YouTube channel, photos from its Flickr account, feeds from its Facebook account, and even feeds from its Twitter account (@news_va_en). As of 9:00pm on Thursday (Manila time), the Vatican News English site's Twitter account has made 1,293 tweets and has swelled to over 58,000 followers. According to WhenDidYouJoinTwitter.com, the account was created on March 9, 2010. Benedict XVI's historic tweet itself had been retweeted more than 100 times as of Thursday night. This was the Vatican's latest foray into the online world, although the Vatican had earlier frowned on a confession app for the iPhone. Benedict XVI has followed the lead of his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, in using the mass media to spread the Gospel. — TJD, GMA News