In the beginning – more than a week in advance – was the press conference at the Vatican, announcing to a packed chamber of religious correspondents the coming event. The pope was joining Twitter, Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, revealed on 4 December The move into new media was borne of the holy father's desire to "encounter men and women wherever they are, and begin dialogue with them".

And for once, believers would know the day and the hour – 12 December, around 10.30am, at the Twitter address @pontifex – and seven associated accounts in different languages. The microblogging site may be a medium that thrives on rapid spontaneity, but the holder of a 2,000-year-old post is entitled to take a longer view, and at least this way his followers – for once the term had a literal as well as metaphorical application – had a week to prepare themselves for the inaugural papal tweet.

Within hours of the announcement, Benedict XVI had more than a quarter of a million followers; by Wednesday morning, when the first message was sent, more than a million people worldwide were following one of the pope's eight accounts, the majority of them on the English-language feed. Not quite Ashton Kutcher, sure – the Hollywood actor has amassed more than 13.2 million followers to his feed @aplusk (sample recent tweet: "even the best of the best comedians pee in their pants") – but with more than 1 billion members of the Roman Catholic church worldwide, when it comes to global influence the holy father can still just about claim the edge...