Pope Benedict tweeted in Latin for the first time today and drew a blank response from many followers.

'Unitati christifidelium integre studentes quid iubet Dominus? Orare semper, iustitiam factitare, amare probitatem, humiles Secum ambulare,' the pontiff wrote.

The pope’s tweet meant: 'What does the Lord command to those wholly eager for the unity of those following Christ?

'To always pray, to continually do justice, to love uprightness, to walk humbly with Him,' according to University of Cambridge scholar Tamer Nawar.

Baffled? So were many Twitter users. 'Benny, nobody understands a word of Latin!' read one response on the online messaging service.

The message was shorter and, arguably, more elegant in its original language - one of the reasons why Latin-lovers want to conserve the tongue of ancient Rome, Pope Benedict foremost among them.

The Holy See, where even ATM bank machine transactions are available in Latin, is one of the last bastions of the language that gave rise to Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian.

In November the pope set up a new Vatican department charged with promoting the study and use of the language within the Roman Catholic Church and beyond.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265482/Pope-Benedict-tweets-Latin-time-draws-blank-response-followers.html#ixzz2IbEP4qBJ
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