Pope Benedict XVI wishes in tweet that everyone could experience joy of Christianity

The official Twitter account of Pope Benedict XVI. / Twitter

One of the final tweets from Pope Benedict XVI's official @Pontifex account was issued Wednesday, just moments after he left the alter in St. Peter's Square where he gave his last public address (video) as pontiff.

Benedict said in his 38th tweet that he wished "everyone could experience the joy of being Christian."

If only everyone could experience the joy of being Christian, being loved by God who gave his Son for us!

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) February 27, 2013

The @Pontifex account was to be shut down, as Benedict was poised to become on Thursday the first pontiff in more than 600 years to retire from the position at the helm of the Roman Catholic Church.

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The pope sent his first tweet in 2011 from a Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal. But in the wake of the Church's maligned handling of the child sexual abuse scandal, the Vatican hand-picked Fox News journalist Greg Burke to be its new communications adviser, and with his guidance, it launched Benedict's own account.

Burke told a press conference in December 2012 -- announcing the new social media initiative as an effort to reach out to a younger audience -- that @Pontifex was chosen for the pope's account because it not only means pope in Latin, but also bridge-builder, suggesting unity.

Benedict garnered some 1.5 million Twitter followers in just six weeks. Vatican officials have acknowledged the pope did not actually type the Twitter messages and that someone in the Vatican's secretariat of state writes them on his behalf.

In January, the pope used the account to give a shout-out to an anti-abortion rally in Washington, tweeting that politicians should protect the unborn and "promote a culture of life."

[johnmchilds]

Sort of an off the wall comment. But, I am really curious to get an answer from a well informed Catholic practitioner. When a Pope dies a lot of the faithful do penance by whipping themselves bloody in various traditional ways. With this pope retiring will the more devout faithful beat themselves when he dies or has he lost his worship-fulness to his successor enough to make this unnecessary?

[Fractalchez]

Oh freakin' enough already, indigenarojo. Yes, Christianity has screwed a lot of things up, and that includes some horrific and shameful decimation of indigenous cultures the world over, Native Americans being one of the worst recipients of this but certainly not the only ones. Similarly, Christianity and slavery do also have a shameful history together, but anyone who has studies the history of it knows that this religion far from has a lock on it as a practice (it's still going on today, ferchrissake!)

But how long do you intend to keep living in the past? The entire history of humanity is one of one mess up after another. Are you going to spend the rest of your live pounding the same fist about the same stuff over and over?

There is beauty to be found in all paths. I personally accept many parts of the tribal shamanistic path as often best exemplified by the Native American culture (who still has it, from the little bits I can tell, though I can't blame them for hiding it under a deep veil of secrecy), and Christianity, which I remind you was itself essentially an oppressed cult before the Roman Empire figured out how to destroy it (ie, if you can't beat it, join it). Pure Christianity as followed by the non-official and often persecuted sects and individuals (ironically now persecuted by their own "church") is as deeply spiritual, liberating and in touch with the Great Mystery (what some call "God") as any other path. Far too many people have proven that the magic is still there and can be as transformative and magical as any other path (need a list of names? Start with Martin Luther King Jr., William Blake, Leo Tolstoy, Origen, St. Francis of Assisi and the Brethren of the Free Spirit as a first primer).

The right answer to this if it all still bothers you so much that you cannot avoiding thinking about it is to look for the true source of the problem and eliminate that. The answer that I came to when I asked the same question: the state. That's the common link throughout all of this disaster, and one that your people have been pretty much wise enough to avoid, even when shoved down your throats. If you really want to bring back the freedom that your people once had (and even though I say "your people", I want it just as bad), help to eliminate that.

[phxson]

Sorry to say....but all this Papal stuff doesn't have the same 'aura' it once did. Maybe modern day society is just moving too fast for the Vatican to catch up. Now all that comes to mind when I see these men in their white/red robes is how many young boys did they fondle?