Pope Benedict XVI launched his own Twitter feed this week (Dec. 3) to worldwide media coverage – it’s hard to resist the story of an octogenarian pontiff mixing it up with the digerati – and to considerable acclaim from church insiders.

The praise was understandable. After the spate of missteps that have come to define Benedict’s nearly eight-year papacy, it seemed that the Vatican might finally be able to get a jump on the 24/7 news cycle rather than always playing defense.