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Pope Francis is a humble pope who avoids extravagance and lives in a Vatican guesthouse. He has over 10 million Twitter followers and offers indulgences to those who cannot attend papal events. Indulgences reduce punishment for sins, but were abused in medieval times. The Pope approves his tweets.
Since 2013, Pope Francis has proven that he is a pope for the people. More modest than many of his predecessors, the 266th Roman Catholic pontiff avoided the trappings of wealth. He lives humbly in an apartment in the Vatican guesthouse, not in the Apostolic Palace. He doesn’t travel in the luxury vehicles of the Vatican, but instead prefers a more pedestrian-friendly Ford Focus. So it should come as no surprise that the Pope took to Twitter and amassed more than 10 million followers in early 2017. In fact, ahead of World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, the Pope offered plenary indulgences to his devotees Twitter followers who were unable to attend, in much the same way that indulgences are offered to those who follow papal events on television or radio.
Tweeting to the faithful:
In Catholicism, an indulgence is a way of reducing the amount of punishment one must incur for sins. It can reduce the penalty after death, in the purification process called Purgatory.
In medieval times, some misguided clerics and corrupt popes abused the concept of indulgence, promising eternal salvation to those who financed lavish building projects.
Pope Francis doesn’t actually write his own tweets, but he presumably approves them.
