Pope Benedict XVI joins the Twitter community

Our changed world.  In so many countless ways.  No tweets from the Vatican as yet ...  probably wanted the account set up and news of it proclaimed before December 25.

Welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to Twitter. You can follow him here: @pontifex blog.twitter.com/2012/12/welcom…
— Twitter (@twitter) December 3, 2012

Tim Stanley, Historian ... writing at TheTelegraph blogs:
 So the Pope has joined Twitter?   It's interesting to see that even Benedict XVI knows not to bother with Facebook any more. Be warned, though, Your Holiness. Twitter can be very addictive and it can make you share with the world thoughts that ought to remain private. Don’t be surprised if we start seeing ill-conceived tweets from @Pontifex like: "Just scratched Tony Blair's car while parking Pope Mobile! ROFL! ;)”
We don't want another Sally Bercow on our hands.

Launching Benedict XVI’s papacy on the internet like it’s Vatican 2.0 is probably a smart move in a globalised, electronic age. But there are dangers. There’s always a risk that an ancient institution gets downgraded by trying to appeal too much to the kids (how long before the Pope posts photos of his cats on Reddit?). The Anglicans went this way when they started holding all-night raves in Surrey parish churches back in the 1990s. They were meant to be alternative methods of experiencing Jesus through dance and grapefruit juice, but they very quickly became all-night raves. Stick a bunch of horny teenagers together in a room, pipe in some Showaddywaddy and – faster than you can say “vodka in the virgin punch” – things are gonna turn nasty. Engagement with modernity can all too often turn into compromise with awfulness.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at this piece in the New York Times     which is meant to be an uplifting reflection on how the 1960s has revolutionised nuns but actually reads like a Tom Wolfe satire of liberal absurdity. All that’s missing is a tragic affair with a dolphin......