There is very little doubt just how big a role social networking has in today's society. Certainly, people use sites like Facebook and Twitter (News - Alert) to stay in touch with friends and even talk about the biggest sporting events. We've also seen some protestors of government actions coordinate their protests using Twitter because they can get the message out to more people quicker. Because there has been such a rise in social networking popularity even over the last few years, more and more entities that most wouldn't expect to be on social networking sites are joining Twitter and the like.

Perhaps one of the most surprising additions in the last few months was when the British Supreme Court announced that it would be running a Twitter account in order to better help people understand cases the court was considering. Now it appears one office that has always been a little slow to embrace technology is jumping on the bandwagon as well.

The Pope has never exactly been a huge fan of social media in particular, but it appears that Pope Benedict XVI understands that using a site like Twitter can actually aid his goals. Tweeting regularly will make it easier for followers to keep up with the Catholic Church's communications. Benedict is the first Pope to register a personal Twitter account, ushering his church into the 21st century in a technological way that might have made former Popes blanch.

The Vatican says that this Twitter account will give Benedict more ways to communicate with the faithful and change with the times, rather than using outdated modes which were overlooked by the younger generations. Father Claudio Maria Celli, the head of the Vatican's pontifical council for social communications said that, "The tweet can be reformulated, redistributed, relaunched and disseminated.”

Those looking to get a jump on following the Pope's Twitter account will be disappointed. The account is not live just yet and the Vatican has not yet released what the Twitter handle will be. The Vatican did say that while not all tweets would be written by Benedict himself, they would all be approved by him.