The Washington Times reports Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, as saying “whoever is chosen as the next pope must be conversant in social media as well as the gospel in order to lead today’s global Catholic Church.” Interestingly, of the 115 Cardinal electors, only 19 are using Twitter to spread the “good news.”
If Cardinal Wuerl is right, then a brief examination of their current social media practices might be a window into the papal conclave and the election of the next pope. The Cardinal who himself suggested the need for social media sauve is on Twitter @Cardinal_Wuerl with 1,260 folllowers and 48 tweets.
So what is the social media presence of the presumed contenders? Some will say the leading contender is Cardinal Angelo Scola, (Italy)@angeloscola, who has actually closed his account for conclave.
Contenders Cardinal Marc Ouellet, (Canadian) and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (Argentina) are not on Twitter.
Two Cardinals have just opened accounts. Cardinal Francis Arinze (Nigeria) @CardArinze has 21 followers and one tweet. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (Italy) @CardinalBertone has 417 followers with one tweet.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, (Ghana) @TurksonCardinal has 5,748 followers and has sent eight tweets.
Two Cardinals stand out from the others.
Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi
The Cardinal with the biggest footprint is Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi (Italy) who has three Twitter accounts, in Italian, Spanish and English. His accounts are: @CardRavasi in Italian, @CardRavasi_sp in Spanish and @CardRavasi_en in English. His followers number 43,319 (Italian) 1,969 (Spanish) and 3,868 (English). He’s been busy with the following tweet numbers: 910 (Italian); 198 (Spanish) 169 (English).
Timothy Cardinal Dolan
The Cardinal holding the social media mitre for Twitter is American, Cardinal Timothy Dolan,@CardinalDolan who has a verified count with 91,636 followers and 231 tweets. Draw your own conclusion.
If you’re interested in quickly finding the current Cardinals on Twitter, follow this list: @TFMcGrath/cardinals.
If Cardinal Wuerl is right, then a brief examination of their current social media practices might be a window into the papal conclave and the election of the next pope. The Cardinal who himself suggested the need for social media sauve is on Twitter @Cardinal_Wuerl with 1,260 folllowers and 48 tweets.
So what is the social media presence of the presumed contenders? Some will say the leading contender is Cardinal Angelo Scola, (Italy)@angeloscola, who has actually closed his account for conclave.
Contenders Cardinal Marc Ouellet, (Canadian) and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (Argentina) are not on Twitter.
Two Cardinals have just opened accounts. Cardinal Francis Arinze (Nigeria) @CardArinze has 21 followers and one tweet. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (Italy) @CardinalBertone has 417 followers with one tweet.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, (Ghana) @TurksonCardinal has 5,748 followers and has sent eight tweets.
Two Cardinals stand out from the others.
Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi
The Cardinal with the biggest footprint is Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi (Italy) who has three Twitter accounts, in Italian, Spanish and English. His accounts are: @CardRavasi in Italian, @CardRavasi_sp in Spanish and @CardRavasi_en in English. His followers number 43,319 (Italian) 1,969 (Spanish) and 3,868 (English). He’s been busy with the following tweet numbers: 910 (Italian); 198 (Spanish) 169 (English).
Timothy Cardinal Dolan
The Cardinal holding the social media mitre for Twitter is American, Cardinal Timothy Dolan,@CardinalDolan who has a verified count with 91,636 followers and 231 tweets. Draw your own conclusion.
If you’re interested in quickly finding the current Cardinals on Twitter, follow this list: @TFMcGrath/cardinals.
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