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The new @Pontifex

Wednesday, 13 March 2013

While thousands of people gathered at St. Peter’s Square to celebrate the announcement of Pope Francis, the rest of the world came together on Twitter. As speculation about the new pope swirled about, much like the white smoke from the chimney at the Sistine Chapel, people across the globe tweeted with anticipation. After 45 minutes of post-smoke waiting, the new @Pontifex was announced.

Throughout today, as anticipation mounted about an announcement, we saw over 7 million Tweets about the papacy. As people reacted to Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran’s announcement of the new Pope, we saw more than 130,000 Tweets per minute. The Pope’s official account, @Pontifex, weighed in as he concluded his first address:

Meanwhile, a glimpse into the global conversation:

Since Pope Francis is the former Cardinal of Buenos Aires, good wishes poured in from his home country of Argentina. In fact, the President tweeted her formal congratulations:

A prominent Argentine rabbi shared a photo of himself with the Cardinal:

Back in Rome, others witnessing the historic reveal shared their experiences from St. Peter’s Square:

Those who couldn’t make it to Rome still tweeted their reactions to the new Pope, wherever they were:

Posted by Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@claire)
Social Innovation Team