WRITTEN BY: Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
Merry Twitter Christmas from Pope Benedict XVI. Over the holiday,
which included Christmas Eve Mass and his solemn speech to the world on
Tuesday, the pope sent off another tweet on his personal account.
For
the 14th posting at @pontifex, he answered a question about his
favorite family Christmas tradition. Benedict, whose brother Rev. Georg
Ratzinger is staying with him over the holiday, replies about a beloved
Nativity scene, commonly called a crib.
"The cribs that we built in our home gave me much pleasure. We added figures each year and used moss for decoration."
Earlier
on Christmas Eve, the Vatican unveiled an immense manger scene with 100
terra cotta figures. The crèche was donated by corporations and private
donors after the exorbitant cost of prior manger scenes was exposed in
the documents stolen by the pope's butler.
Monday night, at the
end of the two-hour Christmas Vigil Mass, the pope was brought on a
rolling red platform to see a statue of the Christ child set in a
Nativity scene on a side altar within St. Peter's Basilica.
A shy smile appeared on the 85-year-old's weary face.
But
even as the world took note of his waning physical strength, Benedict's
Vatican is now moving into energetic use of social media.
Although
various Vatican agencies and the pope himself have been on Twitter
since 2010, it was the announcement this month of the pope's personal
account -- and a call for people to send him their questions about faith
and tradition -- that caught fire.
He now has 2.3 million followers @pontifex where his tweets are released in eight languages.
USA Today