MANILA, Philippines - Pope Francis sent his first tweet as pope right after he delivered his first public address, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.
“HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM,†read the tweet of the Vatican from the papal Twitter account, the LA Times said.
Roughly translated from Latin, the tweet means “We have Pope Francis.â€
According to the report, the account, @Pontifex, was started when Pope Benedict XVI began tweeting in December.
It was, however, deactivated when Benedict resigned from the papacy end of February.
The LA Times quoted Vatican Radio as saying that “it seems unimaginable that one could continue to use a communication tool so popular and powerful during the sede vacante period,†referring to the period when no pope presided over the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
Benedict was 85 when he made his first tweet, the article said.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis was not among the few cardinals who are known to have active Twitter accounts, the LA Times added.