Pope Francis posts first tweet in Filipino: What did he say?

Published January 16, 2015 4:03pm

A few hours after saying his first mass on Philippine soil, Pope Francis, @Pontifex on Twitter, on Friday afternoon posted his first tweet in Filipino.

Barely a day after he arrived to a rousing welcome of hundreds of thousands late Thursday afternoon, Pope Francis said the country was a sign of Church's youth and vibrancy.

Ang Pilipinas ay patunay ng kabataan at kasiglahan ng Simbahan.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) Enero 16, 2015

The @Pontifex tweet was retweeted 5,040 times and favorited 5,175 times some 10 minutes after it was posted.

Earlier, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site quoted Rome-based Bro. Francis Dominic Vergara as saying the Pope was trying to learn basic Tagalog phrases.

“We have the chance to meet him person to person so there, it was a feeling of joy... We were able to talk with him that’s why before that day, I practiced my Italian, what I would tell him. He asked me if I spoke Tagalog. He said, ‘You speak Tagalog?’ I said, ‘Yes!’ Then he said, “I’m trying Tagalog but it’s difficult,” Vergara said.

Vergara, who has been studying first year Philosophy at the Pontifical University of Urbaniana, talked to the Pope Francis for two minutes before the Pope’s Te Deum and Vespers last Dec. 31.

At the time, 15 Filipino seminarians, three of whom were deacons, were invited to serve the Pope. —Joel Locsin/NB, GMA News

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