Pope Benedict XVI posts first Twitter message in Latin

Pope Benedict XVI has posted his first Twitter message in Latin.

A month after sending his first much-anticipated tweet using his personal account - @pontifex - the Pope said: "What does the Lord ask of us as we work for Christian unity?

And he answered: "To pray constantly, do justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with Him.

The Pope personally approves tweets sent in his name in nine languages and has some 2.5 million followers. Most of them follow his English account, reports the BBC.

As the Pope launched his account last month, a spokesperson said the pontiff would "reach out to everyone"

The Vatican has long shown interest in using the latest communications technologies to spread the faith with the inventor of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, setting up Vatican Radio in 1931.

It now uses many social media networks to spread its message, which include text messages and YouTube.

Papal aides say the pontiff himself still prefers to communicate in longhand rather than using a computer keyboard. Pope Benedict's papacy has been bedevilled by poor communications.

Embarrassing clarifications had to be issued over such thorny issues as his 2005 speech about Islam and violence, and his stance on condoms and HIV.