Believers vs. Beliebers: Pope Benedict XVI beats Justin Bieber in Twitter war setting new record for re-tweets per follower

They both have millions of followers around the globe who hang on to their every word and worship the ground they walk on - and females are known to cry hysterically wherever they appear - but it seems that the Twitterverse is only big enough for one of them.
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, 85, has beaten 18-year-old popstar Justin Bieber to set a new record for re-tweets in relation to number of followers.
The leader of the Catholic church sent his first official tweet eight days ago and reached 2.1 million followers yesterday, the Vatican announced.

Team Believers: Pope Benedict XVI seen sending his first twitter message last week has beaten Justin Bieber to most re-tweets per follower

Team Beliebers: Justin Bieber, the popstar king of the Twitter generation, has seen himself out-tweeted by the 85-year-old Pope

Although Canadian teen heartthrob Justin Bieber has roughly 15 times as many followers as the pope - 31.7 million - the Vatican newspaper said the Pope had beaten Bieber on re-tweets per follower.

 

Nearly 50 percent of Pope Benedict's followers had re-tweeted his first tweet on December 12 which read: 'Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart. '
Meanwhile a mere 0.7 percent of Bieber's followers had re-tweeted one of the singer's most popular tweets on September 26, when he commented on the death by cancer of a six-year-old fan.

Faithful support: Benedict XVI tweets spiritual messages to his followers