VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI hit the 1 million Twitter follower mark today as he sent his first tweet from his new account.

In perhaps the most drawn out Twitter launch ever, the 85-year-old Benedict pushed the button on a tablet brought to him at the end of his general audience today.

“Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart,” his inaugural tweet read.

At around the same time the message was sent, the number of followers of Benedict’s (at)Pontifex account surpassed the 1 million mark on the eight languages of the handle, adding some 11,000 followers in the last two hours alone. Later in the day Benedict was to respond to a few questions about faith sent to him from around the world.