Middle East OFWs among Pope Francis' top Twitter followers

While it's no secret that Filipinos are avid followers of Pope Francis, it still surprised a Vatican official that a huge chunk of his tweeps are Filipinos from Muslim-dominated countries in the Middle East.

 

Msgr. Paul Tighe, who helps manage the papal Twitter account @Pontifex, said he was surprised to learn of the huge following from overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East, the Catholic Bishops' Conference said Thursday.

 

“These Filipinos are in a situation that are not easy for Catholics but Twitter is something that allowed them some connection to the Church,” said Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

 

He said that when the Pope went on Twitter, the Vatican can see what parts of the world his followers are from. Tighe led the team that created and maintains the Pope’s Twitter account.

 

"We were surprised to see that in the Middle Eastern countries and Gulf states, there were huge following. Then we realized that those were the Filipinos," he said.

 

He admired the Middle East OFWs' "ingenuity" in using social media to live their faith. He added this is one thing he “loves about Filipinos.”

 

Meanwhile, Tighe urged Filipinos abroad to make full use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to enhance their ties with the CHurch.

 

“What I want to tell Filipinos around the world is that make sure you see in social media the potential to build good relationships among yourselves, to build up your faith and sense of belongingness to the Church and closeness to Christ,” he said.

 

Tighe is in Manila to keynote the Catholic Social Media Summit (CSMS) on Saturday at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila.

 

@Pontifex was first used by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The account was suspended when Benedict resigned in March and the College of Cardinals met to elect his successor.

 

Tighe, the Pope usually composes the original tweet in Spanish or Italian. His team then translates the message to seven other languages such as French, Portuguese and Arabic.  — TJD, GMA News