Francis goes trending on social sites

SOCIAL networking sites went abuzz as netizens welcomed Pope Francis. Many expressed happiness and hope, but a few aired their disappointment.

On Twitter, Jake Stewart said: "Pope Francis might as well have named himself Pope Awesome! I love this guy!"

James Martin tweeted: "The first Jesuit pope fills me with joy. God is a God of surprises!"

"To many non-Catholics, this is an exciting moment like an election. But to Catholics, it's also a huge spiritual moment of prayer and faith," posted Jaweed Kaleem.

Filipino netizens welcomed the election of the first Latin American pontiff, but wondered when the Catholic Church will get a Filipino pope.

Andrea Quiño tweeted: "Pope Francis the first ever Latin American and Jesuit Pope. It's a first! When will there be a first Filipino pope?"

Some netizens expressed their dismay over the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina as the successor of Pope Benedict XVI.

"So Vatican ended up choosing an Italian-origin Pope Francis who resettled in Argentina? Disappointed, not that conclusive after all," tweeted Suryanarayan Ganesh.

Others brought up controversies surrounding the new pope, including a 2005 lawsuit accusing him of having involvement in the 1976 abductions in Argentina.

Several trending topics on Twitter following the conclave were related to the installation of the new pope.

According to a CNN report, about 130,000 tweets per minute were posted about the new pope.

On Facebook, several accounts bearing the name of Pope Francis were created. Pictures of the pontiff, including an old photo of him sitting in a train among commuters, were posted.

Appeals for prayers for the new pope flooded the Facebook pages created for him.

Gaspar Kimario posted: "May the Almighty God guide him in every decision! I understand he has a lot of tough decisions on the table to make!"

Some Twitter users captured the spotlight because of their username and their funny tweets.

Conclave Chimney had almost 10,000 followers as of yesterday afternoon. In one post, the Twitter user said: "It's so dark I doubt I will be able to see what color smoke I'm producing."

Papal Smoke Stack, followed by 7,850 Twitter users, posted: "Worked hard to give you a clear smoke signal. If I cut corners so I could tweet sooner you all would complain about inconclusive puffs!" (That was after the account failed to tweet about the first puffs of black smoke, around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday in the Philippines, when the conclave held its first ballot.)

When a seagull perched on top of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, where the conclave was held, Conclave Chimney said: "If this bird stays on top of me any longer I swear it's planning to build a nest here."

Sistine Seagull, on the other hand, tweeted: "Does anybody know a good chimney pipe I could crash on in Argentina?"