QUEBEC CITY - The Catholic Church's newly named top official in Canada is taking to the twitterverse.
If Bishop Gerald Cyprien Lacroix has his way, the church just might shake its centuries-old reputation for not always being on the cutting edge of communications.
Lacroix has created a Twitter account where he shares press clippings and greets followers, in both French and English.
The 53-year-old Lacroix was formally named by the Vatican this week to his new posts, becoming both the Primate of Canada and the archbishop of Quebec City.
He has said he will follow the work of his predecessor to "re-evangelize" Quebec, a once-religious but now overwhelmingly secular province.
He takes over from Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who was promoted by the Vatican to take on the job of advising Pope Benedict as the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.
The Primate of Canada title is bestowed automatically to the head of Quebec archdiocese, which is the oldest in the country.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Quebec says Lacroix is actually quite familiar with the power of the web.
Spokesman Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre says Lacroix was quite active on Facebook until a hacking incident forced him to disable his account recently.
Lemieux-Lefebvre says the Twitter account, opened this week, will be run by his staff but Lacroix will also check in on it from time to time.
While Facebook accounts are used by some members of the church in Canada, Lemieux-Lefebvre says Twitter accounts are rare among bishops.
