Last week marked the first visit by Pope Francis to the African continent. He is also known by his Twitter handle @Pontifex. The Pope arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday evening and the excitement he created was felt through Twitter. Prior to his arrival, Kenyans had begun Tweeting about his arrival using various hashtags that all became top local trends on Twitter.
Some of the top hashtags that many users on Twitter engaged with were; #PopeInKenya and #PopeInAfrica all Tweeting about Pope Francis’ visit to Kenya. Here is the Pope’s first Tweet in Kenya:
Mungu abariki Kenya! God bless Kenya!
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) November 25, 2015
Here is how #PopeinKenya unfolded on Twitter http://reverb.guru/view/
Below is a sample of some of the tweets from this past week:
https://twitter.com/UKenyatta/status/669530730360369152
.@Pontifex delivers strong message against illegal trade in #wildlife at @UN #PopeInKenya pic.twitter.com/sbTAz2ursh
— UN Environment Programme (@UNEP) November 26, 2015
"I appeal to the young people of the generation to build a society that is more just and inclusive. be concerned for the poor" #PopeInKenya
— Sakaja Arthur Johnson (@SakajaJohnson) November 26, 2015
Kenyans were on the international spotlight for the two days that Pope Francis was in Kenya. As illustrated, Twitter was the go-to place for Kenyans to share their real time updates and take outs from the mass and various activities presided over by the Pope.
