Beginning on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Benedict XVI will start tweeting in six languages from his own personal handle @Pontifex, an announcement that brought tens of thousands of followers as well as a rash of crude remarks.

The Blaze is reporting that the new Twitter account, which will be launched on Dec. 12, will be using a question and answer format focusing on answering questions about the faith. Within minutes of the announcement yesterday, the Pope had nearly 15,000 followers.

He also drew detractors whose tweets were facetious and, in some cases, too vile to reprint.

One user wrote, “Sweet, Pope Benedict is getting a Twitter account. Everyone get your best bile and hate ready to chuck his way!”

Another said: “Hey Pope, maybe you can start by apologizing to everyone.”

“The pope is just another man in a dress telling women what to do,” tweeted comedian Roseanne Barr.

Greg Burke, the Vatican’s communications advisor and former reporter for Fox News, told a press conference that the Twitter handle @Pontifex was chosen because it means not only pope in Latin, but also bridge-builder, suggesting unity.

Judging from the amount of hatred being spewed his way, he is no doubt anxious to get to work building those bridges.

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