pope

If the media is to believed, the new Pope Francis is an extremely modest man.

Eschewing the life of palaces in Argentina, he lived modestly and even cooked for himself.

Such frugality, reticence, and identification with the poor of the world isn't often associated with lawyers.

Yet one member of Chicago's legal faith is offering up an act of generosity akin to just chatting with Mary Magdalene.… Read more

When the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church were sequestered in the conclave to choose a new pope, they were instructed to give up their cell phones. No texting! Revealing the secrets behind the election of the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, they and their attendants were told, would lead to excommunication.

Jammers were also installed in the Sistine Chapel to prevent electronic communication.

For an institution that has suffered its share of leaks, the Vatican maintained its storied traditions as it voted for a pope for the second time in the 21st century.

But while the announcement that a new pope had been chosen was made via a cloud of white smoke -- a tradition that has continued since the election of Pope Benedict XV in 1914, and a symbol of the cardinals' cloistered proceedings -- the introduction to the world of Argentinean Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis was made on live TV and Internet, via Twitter and Facebook, and by the countless smartphone and tablet photos snapped in St. Peter's Square. … Read more

Shortly after the smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel turned from black to white and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was deemed the world's new Roman Catholic leader, hundreds of people took to the Web to register domain names with the new pope's title.

Web hosting and domain registration site GoDaddy told CNET that it racked up more than 100 domain registrations within the first 10 minutes of the announcement. By the first hour, 479 new domains were registered. And, as of this writing, 647 domain names have been registered at GoDaddy.

"The election of Pope Francis is … Read more

As the Vatican taps Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to lead the Catholic Church, the pope's Twitter account has been reactivated. Bergoglio's first official Tweet as @Pontifex was "Habemus papam franciscum," which means, "We have a Pope Francis."

Apparently, the account was actually the Vatican's official account, but was changed to @Pontifex after a the new pope was chosen, according to CBS News.

The original @Pontifex Twitter account went into hibernation this past month in light of Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign from the papacy due to health reasons.

Pope Benedict XVI … Read more

In case you're unfamiliar with the significance of the color of smoke rising from the world's current most-watched chimney, here's how Ireland's Father Paddy Byrne broke it down in a Tweet awhile ago:

Not going to directly accuse Father Byrne of anything except wacky tweeting here, but it should be noted for noobs to the conclave of Catholic cardinals currently trying to select the pope's successor that only the first two parts are true. I hope. After each round of balloting that doesn't produce a two-thirds majority, a puff of black smoke goes up and out of the Sistine Chapel. Once a new pope is selected, the smoke turns white.

So, that means the true pope-arazzi should have already staked out a prime smoke-viewing spot outside the chapel. But for the rest of us who aren't trained to the live Vatican smoke cam but are maybe just a little obsessed with anything that involves balloting, be it popes or pop stars, fortunately there's Pope Alarm (tagline: "When the smoke goes up, you'll know what's going down"). … Read more

To observers of the papal conclave, one part of the process will probably stand out as the most visible and exciting. Today, all 115 cardinals will isolate themselves from the rest of the world, their only contact with the outside world being smoke signals.

What the fumes indicate is simple: black smoke means there has been no decision on a new pontiff. But if the "fumata bianca," or white smoke, flows out of the chimney, then the world knows there is a new Bishop of Rome. The color has to be just right, or millions of onlookers will be fooled.

But just how does the smoke get its color? … Read more

The Catholic Church is one of the few remaining organizations that believes in absolutes.

Sometimes, though, this gives an impression of harshness.

No sooner had the pope bid farewell to his flock than his tweets were summarily removed from Twitter. Pope Benedict XVI officially left office today.

It's true that last week the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI's last tweet would be on February 27.

Yet to see the @Pointifex account deserted feels a little severe.

Currently, the account is open, but is marked simply with the words "Sede Vacante," the Latin for "vacant … Read more

Pope Benedict XVI might have only joined Twitter in December, but he's already saying so long to the social network.

According to CNN, Vatican Radio announced today that the Pope's postings on @Pontifex will officially end on February 28 when he ends his reign as the leader of the Catholic Church. Vatican Radio reportedly said that Benedict's last tweet will come on February 27.

It's no surprise that the Pope's tweets will be ending. Earlier this month, Benedict announced that he'd be resigning from the papacy at the end of the month due to … Read more

Back in the old days, before last month, releasing software was easy.

You wrote your code, uploaded it to an app store, and let people download it and start using your service. Many apps launched this way. Some were even successful!

Then came Mailbox. Mailbox is an e-mail app. It has a nice user interface and can remind you to respond to e-mails you've allowed to languish, but at the end of the day it's an app that lets you read and write e-mail.

Mailbox's biggest innovation wasn't its reminders, though. It was the virtual velvet … Read more