Israel's President tweets the pope a welcome

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres has welcomed Pope Benedict XVI, both octogenarians, to social media with a personal tweet.

Peres, 89, tweeted on Tuesday, "Your holiness, welcome to Twitter. Our relations with the Vatican are at their best and can form a basis to further peace everywhere."

The 85-year-old Pope did not immediately respond. He joined Twitter on Monday and gained 250,000 followers within hours. He plans tweets in eight languages.

Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has embraced social media. He visited Facebook's headquarters where creator Marc Zuckerberg helped him launch his official Facebook page in English.

In collaboration with a well-known Israeli announcer, his office released a music video, asking people to be his Facebook friend.