Holy tweets - the Pope joins Twitter and gets thousands of followers

The 85-year-old representative of God will start communicating with his followers via the social media site on December 12.

His press office said his official handle is @Pontifex.

The senior media advisor to the Vatican, Greg Burke, said @Pontifex meant both "pope" and "bridge builder": “The Pope wants to reach out to everyone,” he told a news conference.

Tweets will be posted in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French, with more languages added in the future.

Benedict XVI’s first tweets will coincide with the feast of the Madonna of Guadalupe and will be responses to queries from his faithful sent to @askPontifex. 

But he’s already got some subject matter to pore over, some more friendly than others.

Controversial comedian Frankie Boyle (@frankieboyle) was quick to snipe this: @Pontifex Hi Pope. You know how the clergy are our line of communication with God? When priests shag kids does God feel it? Is he into it?

Spinoza English (@spinozaen) offered: The #Pope joins Twitter at @Pontifex. If he really believed in miracles he would have joined Google+.

Many others were delighted at the chance to read the word of God in 140 characters or less.

Images via Getty