Many Vatican dependents wanted to thank Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli on his last day of work at the Vatican.
The archbishop presided at the Pontifical Council for Social Communications for more than nine years. He was behind the launch of the website news.va, the application on the Vatican called 'Pope App' and the Pope's Twitter account.
MSGR. DARIO VIGANí?
Prefect, Secretariat for Communication
'Besides the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, step-by-step he accompanied the birth of the Secretariat of Communication. So today is a festive time, to thank him.'
CARD. PIETRO PAROLIN
Vatican Secretary of State
'I am here to express my affection for Archbishop Claudio. It is a happy, but also a sad moment. Behind him, he has the conscience of his journey based on service to God, to the Church and people. This is what comforts us and is so beautiful now.'
MSGR. CLAUDIO MARIA CELLI
'You will remember that after Benedict's first tweet, people responded with aggressive tweets, with crude images against the Pope. There was a very important cardinal who called me and asked me: 'But how has the Pope been exposed to this?' I then studied the situation with a certain care, but we decided to keep the Twitter account open. I think they wanted us to close it. Now we see what kind of presence the Pope has on Twitter: his role, his communicative value.'
In addition to leading the dicastery on communications, Archbishop Celli is a diplomat with years of experience. He was deputy foreign minister of the Holy See, participating in the lengthy negotiations with Israel to sign a 'Fundamental Agreement' and in other negotiations with China.
It is precisely in those areas of delicate international policy that he will continue to work with the Holy See.
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