The Vatican officially unveiled the new personal Twitter account of Pope Benedict XVI this morning, and he hasn't even had to tweet anything to blow past your puny follower count. Less than an hour after turning on the account, @pontifex had amassed more than 15,000 followers and will only draw in more as the Western Hemisphere slowly wakes up. And he's not even planning his first tweet for another nine days.

Vatican officials announced that Pope Benedict will begin his Twitter career with a Q&A on December 12, followed by the occasional quote from his weekly teachings, or some other musings whenever the Holy Spirit moves him. Of course, he won't actually be tapping away on his Android or Surface. The Pope's staff will transcribe and broadcast the 140-character missives in eight different languages on his behalf. (He has an account in Arabic, but not Chinese or other popular Asian languages.)

Of course, Benedict is unlikely to get more online followers than actual real-life followers, as the Catholic Church has more than a billion members worldwide. Either way, you'll have to move fast before all the religious technology jokes are taken.

Great question from a journalist for the Vatican: "Should the Pope's tweets be considered infallible?" (press conf breaks out in laughter)

— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) December 3, 2012

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Dashiell Bennett