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| Pope Benedict XVI |
The Vatican radio has announced that the Pope’s Twitter account @Pontiflex will shut down next week
As Pope Benedict XVI leaves office 8p.m. on February 28, his Twitter presence will also come to an end.
This Pope is the first Catholic Church Leader to use Twitter to communicate to his followers. About 1.5 million of those people follow the English language feed, with nearly 700,000 following him in Spanish and just short of 335,000 in Italian. About 22,500 people follow @Pontifex in Latin.
“It seems unimaginable that one could continue to use a communication tool so popular and powerful during the ‘sede vacante’ period,” Vatican Radio said, referring to the time during which the seat will be empty.
“From choice, the Pontifex profile was not personalized, but it clearly refers to the person of the Pope.”
