Pope Benedict XVI sent out his first-ever message via Twitter under his personal Twitter handle: @pontifex, on Wednesday. \u201cDear friends,\u201d wrote the Holy Father, \u201cI am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.\u201d The Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Mons. Paul Tighe, told Vatican Radio the event was, \u201cAn extraordinary moment,\u201d adding that the attention to the event within the \u201cTwitter-sphere\u201d itself was quite impressive: more than 2 thousand re-tweets in under two minutes. It is also understood that the Holy Father\u2019s followers have already topped the 1 million mark. Through the course of the afternoon, the Holy Father will be responding to a series of questions chosen from those submitted to #askpontifex.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Rome Reports captured the historic moment on video.\u00a0 Has the tiny gesture of one man\u2019s index figure ever attracted this much scrutiny?<\/p>\n