Of course, we’ve all heard the news that Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger) will officially resign his title of ‘Bishop of Rome’ on February 28 (Thursday), leaving the papacy to welcome its next Roman Catholic leader.
What you perhaps didn’t know, though, is that, (as part of his resignation) Benedict XVI also plans to shutdown his official Twitter account ahead of his step-down from the religious position, later this week.
According to The Malay Mail, (via Vatican Radio), the account’s official handle – ‘@Pontifex’ – which, as of writing, has 1,581,787 followers, will simply cease to exist come Benedict’s official step-down on Thursday.
Vatican Radio made the following statement:
“It seemed unimaginable one could continue to use a communication tool that is so popular and powerful during the Sede Vacante (Vacant Seat) period,”
The 265th pontiff first joined the micro-blogging service back in December, in a highly-publicised event which saw Ratzinger send his first-ever tweet from Apple’s iPad.
Pope Benedict XVI is expected to post his final tweet as the ‘Bishop of Rome’ and leader of the world’s (estimated) 1.2 Billion Catholics, on February 27.
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