Pope Receiving Email from Around the World

From the Vatican Information Service:

E-mail has been pouring in from around the world for Pope John Paul since the Vatican's web site posted an address in each of its six language versions (john_paul_ii@vatican.va). Letters in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and German have been arriving daily for the Holy Father, wishing him well, a speedy recovery and a prompt return to his ministry as Pope and Bishop of Rome.

From March 1 to noon of March 3, according to statistics and sample letters released today, over 20,000 e-mail messages have arrived for the Pope: about 10,000 in English, 6,077 in Spanish, 2,012 in Portuguese, 1,134 in Italian, 850 in German and 800 in French. Many messages in the Pope's native Polish also arrive daily. While these numbers are only for a two-day period, they represent just a portion of mail arriving for the Holy Father: the additional e-mails since March 3 as well as letters and faxes that arrive at the Secretariat of State and other offices of the Roman Curia.

This is not the first time the Vatican has posted the e-mail address for the Holy Father: it was on the web page on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as Pontiff in October 2003.