Francisus: Very Popular Reception for Pope's Latin Twitter

The Latin Twitter account of Pope Francis has a surprising number of subscribers

Vatican / Washington (kath.net / CNA / jg) The Latin Twitter account of Pope Francis has a surprising number of subscribers, called "followers". Even more amazing is the high number of responses, which are also written in Latin.

With 123,000 followers, the papal Twitter messages ("tweets") in Latin have more prospects than their Polish, Arabic or German equivalents. "It is remarkable how lively the Latin Twitter account is," says Timothy Noone, professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America to CNA. "I'm surprised how many people are able to write in Latin," he added. The variety of the Latin responses to the papal tweets contradict the view that Latin is a dead language, Noone said.

He and some of his colleagues were able to speak, Latin. The professor of medieval metaphysics and epistemology sees the Latin activities at the papal "tweets" to be quite positive. Knowledge of the language is essential to understand Western culture, he told CNA.

Benedict XVI. opened the papal Twitter account December 2012 and his first messages were sent in eight languages. Most popular are Spanish and English with 2.8 million and 2.7 million subscribers. In January 2013 Latin was added as the ninth after numerous inquiries to the Vatican had been received. Following the resignation of Benedict the Twitter account had been shut down. Pope Francis has enabled it again soon after his election.

Link to kath.net...