In modern times, the Pope
has made many journeys. He has jet-setted around the world in his
plane, Shepherd One, and driven in a motorcade in the
popemobile, memorably described as his "bullet-proof ice-cream van"
when it plied the streets of Britain.
But perhaps no journey
can be stranger than the one he is setting out on this week,
without having to leave his desk in the papal apartments. Pope
Benedict XVI is entering the rowdy world of Twitter, where brief,
140-character messages fly back and forth between people, 24 hours
a day.
It is about as far away
as you could imagine from the world where popes issued bulls and
encyclicals from the throne of St Peter, and people listened in
hushed reverence. Entering Twitter is like arriving at a noisy bar,
where a fight is always about to erupt. So the Pope might do best
to leave his mitre at the door.
POPE Benedict has made
his debut before on Twitter, in June 2011, when he sent a tweet to
inaugurate the Vatican news website. But this time he has his own
Twitter account: @pontifex. In the week since the account opened,
he has clocked up 600,000 followers, without posting a single
tweet.
This supernatural
growth-spurt is just one of many unusual things about this account.
It is being run by a man who prefers writing in long- hand to using
a computer keyboard: the Pope is not even a typewriter sort of
chap. And, although the Vatican says that he "will tweet what he
wants to tweet", his involvement will be limited to signing off on
the 140-character messages, which will be put together by staff in
the Secretariat of State.
In another move that is
unusual for Twitter, the Pope is not going to "follow" anyone. In
fact, however, @pontifex is already following seven other accounts,
which all turn out to be @pontifex in languages other than English.
There is @pontifex_it for Italian and @pontifex_de for German.
There is also an account in Arabic, but not in Latin. It is
fascinating to see that English has been chosen for the main
account.
All this means that the
Pope is following himself, which isn't quite the done thing on
Twitter, where following others and being followed in return is the
whole point. This is why it's called a social rather than a
broadcast medium.
THE Pope will also not be
retweeting anyone else's tweets, although he will be replying to
questions, which can be posted on the Twitter hashtag
#askpontifex
Unsurprisingly, the
avalanche of questions, jokes, and comments posted so far is a
mixed bag. They are by turns curious, scurrilous, playful, pious,
blasphemous, sincere, insulting, mischievous, and occasionally
funny. It's an ordinary day on Twitter, in fact.
"When will Your Holiness
visit Sweden?" asks bjornglarsson, which sounds like an easy task
for the Vatican's social media team.
"Now that @Pontifex has
an account, can he excommunicate someone by blocking them on
Twitter?" posts CodyCGraves.
The BBC News website
asked something similar the other day, when it seriously plumbed
the question whether the Pope's tweets could be infallible. Pope
Pius IX must be spinning in his sarcophagus.
More challenging is this
from oliverthring: "Why do you acquiesce to the deaths of millions
of the world's poorest people by teaching them that condoms are
worse than Aids?"
A question such as this
is the meat and drink of Twitter. I think that the Pope will need
to respond to popular and clichéd criticism of the Roman Catholic
Church if he seriously wants to build credibility.
Credibility is, of
course, the biggest issue. The fact that the Pope will not retweet,
follow others, or actually write his own tweets makes me wonder
whether the whole exercise is for real. It certainly takes a great
deal of sincerity out it. It's very Pontifex Maximus, and
the @pontifex handle is an unfortunate reminder of the "Supreme
Pontiff" pretensions of papal power.
It is a safe bet that the
most conservative sections of the Roman Curia see this as a new
megaphone for the Pope to deliver one-way messages; but the world
doesn't work like that any more. Committing yourself to social
media means joining a conversation, listening as well as speaking,
appreciating the thoughts of other people.
Having said that, another
world religious leader has thrived on Twitter for the past couple
of years. The Dalai Lama tweets regularly, with the support of a
social-media team who translate his teachings into tweet-sized
messages.
This operation not only
works well, but seems to be true both to the Dalai Lama and to the
social medium; so perhaps there is a model here that could work for
the Pope.
The Dalai Lama's account,
even though it follows zero people, does not retweet, and does not
answer questions, has 5.7 million followers, making him the 91st
most followed person on Twitter.
The Roman Catholic
blogger Brandon Vogt has offered five suggestions for the tweeting
Pope. They include: engage in dialogue, be funny, and don't be
afraid.
Vogt writes: "If you're
simply pushing out information, you're not using Twitter's full
potential. The great power of Twitter is that it puts you in
dialogue with a billion Catholics around the world - and billions
of non-Catholics - most of whom see you as distant and
inaccessible."
The Pope has
distinguished himself in reflecting on internet culture over the
past few years, in his messages on World Communications Day. In his
2011 message, he talked positively about the way in which people
can connect with each other using social media: "Entering
cyberspace can be a sign of an authentic search for personal
encounters with others."
If Pope Benedict can turn
that thought into action, by breaking out of the confines of his
office and finding an authentically human way of communicating with
the social-media world, it would be a very hopeful sign. It's a big
thing to hope, but if the Dalai Lama can do it, perhaps the Pope
can, too. And, while they're about it, perhaps they could follow
each other.
Simon Jenkins is the editor of Ship of Fools, and blogs at
simonjenkins.com.