Posted on 12/03/2012 2:31:40 PM PST by NYer
Pope Benedict joined Twitter today and was greeted by hateful tweets from Catholic bashers laced with profanity. Pope Benedict XVI ’s new Twitter account has been revealed, @Pontifex, and it already has more than 100,000 followers and is expected to be eventually followed by millions.
The Vatican revealed the new personal Twitter account for Pope Benedict XVI, and said the leader of the Catholic Church would answer one question about his faith every week — with the first coming next Wednesday. Users of Twitter can send questions using the hashtag #askpontifex or #B16 and church officials said the first tweets from the account would come this week.
“The Pope’s presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in the digital arena,” the Vatican said. The Pope’s involvement in the popular social media outlet “can be seen as the ‘tip of the iceberg’ that is the Church’s presence in the world of new media.”
Pope Benedict himself will hit the button to send the first tweet from the account, but others will send tweets on his behalf frequently. The term @Pontifex means “bridge builder” in Latin.
Immediately after the announcement, the account was hit with a rash of vile tweets.
Roseanne Barr said, “the pope is just another man in a dress telling women what to do.”
“Hahaha The Pope Has Twitter Accounts Now Let’s Hit This Bitch Up With Some Hate Tweets,” another user tweeted.
Some other hateful tweets include:
“Hey @Pontifex hahaha f— off pope go back to middle ages n take ur backwards mind set w/ u.”
“The pope is on Twitter! Yay now I can let him know how much I hate him!”
“Hey Pope piss up a rope you old bastard”
“Ask him when the Church is going to change their prohibition on condoms, which is causing millions to die in the Third World.’”
Catholic ping!
As my husband always says: “It’s not my world.” And it isn’t.
Well, the honored Pope just visited an e-sewer. Who’s surprised? I hope he wasn’t.
Agree totally. Thanks for reinforcing that notion.
This was a poor idea, for a multitude of reasons.
This would have shown itself, had they entered the medium gradually. As it is, it is like taking a shortcut across a plowed, muddy field.
My wife & I had a Christmas party for our staff last night, most of whom are twenty or so years younger than we.
We hired a DJ and there was dancing.
Your husband is right.
Good post. I like the word e-sewer. That’s what they and others like them are.
At least a sewer carries away effluence. The internet has become a fever swamp for this sort of thing.
Aw...I hate that so many people agree with me. I don’t know what to do with the remainder of my life!
I am not Catholic so please don't take offense to my ignorance of Church leadership structure, but its my guess is that you don't get to the Vatican level of the Church, much less be selected Pope, without having been through a persecution for your faith a time or two. His response to these attacks may just might get through to someone - maybe not the attacker but someone else watching.
And the haters will have to 'follow' the Pope to keep up with what he's saying, right? God can use that exposure for His good.
Well said!
How idiotic.
Do millions of people slavishly obey the condom prohibition while completely ignoring the prohibition on sex outside of marriage?
You are trying to respond to someone who also believes that abolishing the 2nd A. will cause unicorns to rise up from Mother Earth, eat all the bad guns and poop Skittles.
The same Skittles that Trayvon used to make Purple Drank.
How stupid. 3rd world guys don’t use condoms because they are uncomfortable and probably believe it’s the woman’s job to use birth control. Of course, I don’t think 3rd world guys even THINK.
One would hope those who are taking pot shots at the pope (without even a competing theology that they could express in a form that held water for five minutes) would stop and listen. It’s so much liberal sloganeering though. Alinsky and his disciples never included “listen to your opponents” in their rule book. To do that, would be to risk all.
Oh, and I am not a Roman Catholic either, I disagree with some Roman Catholic theology. But cheap pot shots are cheap pot shots.
Thanks, HiTech. Thanks to you I googled this and found out just what this creepy kid was doing. Wow.
Our beloved Pope Benedict is graced with all the God-given intellect and compassion that he needs to respond to these attacks. God bless him.
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