Vatican Deletes All Of Pope Benedict's Tweets

from the erasing-history dept

It was just a couple months ago that Pope Benedict began tweeting to great fanfare and attention. He quickly had well over a million followers. Of course, as you may have heard, the Pope decided to become the first Pope in about 600 years to retire. And, now that this has taken effect... the Vatican appears to have deleted every one of his tweets.
That is, uh, not how you use Twitter. Sure, tweets can be deleted, but it seems particularly bizarre to delete the entire historical record of this one Pope's tweets, even if there were a small number of them. Of course, at the very least, this means they won't have to deal with the ex-Pope still having his Twitter login going and rogue tweeting from retirement.

Update: As a few people have pointed out, the Vatican has set up an archive of his tweets on their own website. Still doesn't explain why they had to erase the originals.
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Filed Under: pope, pope benedict, tweets, vatican


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:17pm

    History erased...

    Its the Ministry of Truth in action...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 1 Mar 2013 @ 7:23am

      Re: History erased...

      They just moved them to the Vatican website so they could get some clicks on their ads and make a few cents!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    radarmonkey (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:19pm

    Standard Operating Procedure

    The RCC is doing what it normally does. Eliminates evidence, sweeps a problem under the rug, and pretends nothing happened. Why should anyone be surprised?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    PGP_Protector (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:19pm

    Archive

    So
    1) Where's the Archive of all the tweets that someone always seems to have ?
    2) How long tell they go after the Archives saying they also need to be deleted ?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    harbingerofdoom (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:23pm

    personally, id rather enjoy watching the ex pope doing a stint of rogue tweeting and the resultant chaos it would create.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:26pm

    Does He

    lose his per diem of 1 little boy toy per week too?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 3:54pm

      Re: Does He

      Yes. The little boy toy will now be sent to your dad's house.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    gorehound (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:26pm

    The Vatican is just doing what it has always done.
    Nothing new here at all.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 3:51pm

      Re:

      So the Vatican has always deleted ex-popes' Tweets? Wow, how long has Twitter really been around? Talk about hidden history!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Internet Zen Master (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:28pm

    Just speculating here but...

    It's possible that the Pontifex twitter account is the official twitter account of the office of the Pope, so it's possible they deleted all of His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus' tweets in order to make room for tweets from the upcoming Pope?

    Then again, I don't (nor ever plan) to use Twitter. Never saw the appeal of being able to make a fool out of yourself in front of the entire world in 140 characters or less.

    If the new Pope sets up a completely different account, then its likely someone at the Vatican was deliberately tossing tweets in the memory hole. Why they'd do that I have no clue.

    The Zen Master says, "We'll see."

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:42pm

      Re: Just speculating here but...

      It seems this is likely. If the twitter account is for the office, they probably deleted the tweets so that no one could confuse the old popes tweets for the new popes and vice versa.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Nibb, 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:32pm

    Archive

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    zem, 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:38pm

    This is not the pope you are looking for.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Mike Masnick (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:50pm

    update

    We added an update to the story with a link to the archive they placed on the vatican website. Still don't understand why they deleted the original tweets though. Seems weird.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:54pm

      Re: update

      "It's possible that the Pontifex twitter account is the official twitter account of the office of the Pope, so it's possible they deleted all of His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus' tweets in order to make room for tweets from the upcoming Pope?"

      Will just leave this here from an earlier comment. If the Twitter account is meant to be from the pope, tweets not from the pope(current) shouldn't be there. If they link to the archive, then they aren't hiding anything, just preparing it for the next pope, assuming he wants to use it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Wally (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 3:22pm

      Re: update

      My wife grew up roman Catholic, and for once it pays to be a Christian on this sight ;-P

      Ok, the simple explanation is that Pope Benedict was not the given name of the man they put under the pope's hat. That twitter account was meant for the man who had the title of "Pope". The Vatican would be very glad to archive all what Pope Benedict said and they always do.

      Pope Benedict is a former Pope and is now a slightly higher ranking Bishop that has once been a pope. His rank is now Pope Eminent, his title remains Pope Benedict. The rank is that of a retiree like Former President Bill Clinton.

      The reason for the deletion of his Twitter feed is simple, the Vatican is saving it for the next Pope. When he dies or retires, they will archive it and do the same.

      Yes, even form a Nazarene background such as mine, it seems weird in deed, but in the words of my fellow Nazarenes..its their way :-)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 1 Mar 2013 @ 7:28am

        Re: Re: update

        Ok, the simple explanation is that Pope Benedict was not the given name of the man they put under the pope's hat.

        Ahhh, so that's why he's on Twitter and not Facebook. Facebook requires you to use your real name.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Wally (profile), 1 Mar 2013 @ 9:46am

          Re: Re: Re: update

          Facebook only requires you to use a real name, but it does not have to be yours. The idea, in short, is simply that the twitter account is reserved for the the one person who has the rank of Pope.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Wally (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 3:55pm

      Re: update

      Mike Mansick, may I change my profile picture to one of the snow flakes and see how long it takes people to notice that no matter which article I comment on....it never changes?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 1 Mar 2013 @ 7:31am

        Re: Re: update

        This brings up a good point. Had they left the old pope's tweets, they would have been displayed beside the new pope's profile picture.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Wally (profile), 1 Mar 2013 @ 9:48am

          Re: Re: Re: update

          Precisely ^_^

          It should be noted that I do not take credit for that explanation. My lovely wife was the one who gave me that information.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Internet Zen Master (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 8:06pm

      Re: update

      Like I said before, it probably because Benedict's not the current Pope, and since account is for the Papal office aka the position of being the Pope, it kinda makes sense that they'd clean out the last guy's tweets and filing them away in an archive. Pretty sure they'll do the same for the next Pope when he kicks the bucket (this of course assumes twitter will still be around at that point).

      It's simple spring cleaning, that's all.

      Oh, and to the ACs who keep making pedo priest jabs at Benedict: get some new material. A jab at the RCC over the pedo priest scandals is good every so often, but when you do it, at least try to do it with a little style.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Abara, 1 Mar 2013 @ 1:32am

      Re: update

      In your screenshot of the twitter account it reads "Sede Vacante" : "the seat being vacant", Letting us assume that the twitter account doesnt represent the pope but the Church as a whole...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Zos (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 2:55pm

    more importantly, who were the 8 people he was following, and was one of them facebook God?

    https://www.facebook.com/TheGoodLordAbove?fref=ts

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 3:09pm

    I'm guessing he suggested banning sex with little boys and they told him retire or die.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 3:29pm

    Does anyone get the impression that Fritz's resignation didn't go down well with the boys??? I don't know what's funnier - the press frenzy surrounding this retirement or the fury of the various Vatican minions scurrying to erase all existence of the current/previous Pope.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    special-interesting (profile), 28 Feb 2013 @ 6:24pm

    Anyone pay attention to that we pay attention to of what are attentive of? (this is one of the best statements I have ever spoken) (are we aware of our awareness of what?)

    Revisionist history. If you don't like what has happened... erase it. (classic 'revisionist history')


    The Vatican passes up the opportunities of many things. (please pay me for advice) ahahaha

    Hint: celibacy is a valued thing. (where do you spent your life's energy) Don't waste it. And. Don't force it. (are you really paying attention to your own values? What is the definition of Hypocrisy)

    A minister has a wife and family but a priest has avowed sex. The requirement that all ministers are priests is... weird (self destructive?) On the level of Pope John Paul II... how do you measure?

    At the level of the average reader: where do you spend your energy? What is the different between thinking and thought.

    What is awareness anyway?

    Disclaimer: am a non practicing Christian.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2013 @ 7:02pm

    Maybe they just didn't want people getting confused as to which Pope made which tweets? It'd make sense to me, but I don't use Twitter. I guess it's actually unnecessary?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Yo-Yo, 28 Feb 2013 @ 7:36pm

    Gotta call it: You went from zero to Dan Brown in 5.1 seconds.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 1 Mar 2013 @ 2:23am

    They could have made a generic account such as @CurrentPope or something and just switched ownership. And in all seriousness I doubt Benedict ever twitted anything, he just said what he wanted twitted and someone with more skills did it. That's one of the problems of the Church. They are old. And they are failing to evolve with times. And that's costing them a fair bit of followers.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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