Pope Francis soars to top of the charts on Twitter

TWITTER accounts burned red hot as the white smoke puffed from the Sistine Chapel, and t 130,000 tweets per minute were sent about Pope Francis.

THE white smoke belched from the Sistine Chapel as the ballots burned beneath Michelangelo's fresco - a new Pope with one lung had just been elected.

And the world was breathlessly tweeting about him.

In the hour after the news broke, early on Thursday morning (AEDT), 130,000 tweets per minute were sent about Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio - the 266th Pope and Latin America's first.

There was praise, criticism and jokes as people from Buenos Aires to Bundaberg had their say about Pope Francis, a Jesuit son of an Italian railway worker, a trained chemist chosen to heal the Catholic Church.

"Pope Francis is renowned for his 2001 visit to a hospice, in which he washed and kissed the feet of 12 AIDS patients," British media identity Piers Morgan noted on Twitter.

His post was retweeted 5000 times in two hours - though he was clearly watching his favourite football team play Bayern Munich at the time.

"As a Catholic, on this momentous day, I am now going to suspend disbelief and trust in the power of God and miracles. Come on #Arsenal," Morgan added.

And that captured perfectly the Twitter reaction to the election of the new Pope, who as a young man had a lung removed because of infection.

It was a combination of serious commentary mixed with the inevitable light-hearted banter that the microblog attracts.

The hashtag #popefrancis shot to the top of the Twitter chart almost immediately as the news broke.

"I look forward to working with His Holiness to advance peace, security, and dignity for our fellow human beings," was tweeted from President Barack Obama's account.

But the hashtag #replacemovietitleswithpope also rocketed, as people enjoyed a papal play on words.

"Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Pope," one wag suggested.

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten was one of the few Australian politicians to tweet about Francis.

"I admire the Jesuit philosophy of being a man (or woman) for others and finding the grandeur of god in learning and all things," he wrote.

There was glee in Argentina.

"I am weeping for Francisco. The pope is Argentino," one person wrote.

Another added: "And here everyone is crazy about the new pope."

There was just one tweet initially sent from the official papal Twitter account, @pontifex, which was launched by Francis' predecessor Benedict XVI in December.

"Habemus Papam Franciscum," ("We have Pope Francis") it read.

Outside the Sistine Chapel someone held up a sign saying "We'll follow u @pontifex."

A long Argentinian flag fluttered in the breeze too.

The white smoke was long gone.

But the world's Twitter accounts were burning red hot.