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Twitter bids its first pope farewell as Benedict XVI resigns

Pope Benedict's resignation is the first since the Middle Ages.

 

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Internet Culture

Posted on Feb 11, 2013   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 1:30 am CDT

After the Vatican’s surprise announcement this morning that Pope Benedict XVI will be resigning at the end of the month, Twitter is reacting predictably: with terrible puns.

It’s a fitting farewell to the first pope to join the microblogging site.

While it’s still early for any serious conspiracy theories to have taken root (although we are intrigued by the Prophecy of Popes, which states that the next pope will be the last before the ultimate fall of Rome), Twitter users have been quick to make their views known with regards to everything from the British horsemeat scandal to the inevitable Emperor Palpatine references:

But just a few hours after the original announcement was made, Pope fatigue is already setting in:

Photo via @mitchbenn/Twitter 

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*First Published: Feb 11, 2013, 11:26 am CST