Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

When the pope retires, his Twitter account will be smashed along with his papal ring, Vatican Radio announced Friday. His account, @Pontifex, garnered nearly 1.6 million followers since he sent his first tweet in December. Until 1842, the papal ring was used to seal official documents — and destroyed in the presence of senior Vatican officials to prevent it from being used to seal forged ones. The Twitter account is being deleted for similar reasons, in light of the recent account-hacking incidents. Before @pontifex is deleted, we revisit some of Pope Benedict’s most retweeted missives....