Catholic leader named most influential tweeter in the world for the third time

Pope Francis has gained a significant online following – he's been named the most influential tweeter in the world.

According to Christian Post, a study of the Twitter accounts of world leaders by PR firm Burson Marsteller put Francis at the top for the third time running.

Reports say with more than 19 million followers between his nine accounts, he's not the most popular (that title goes to Barack Obama, who has 58.6 million, though even he's beaten by Justin Bieber), but the pontiff's online musings spread the furthest.

Francis enjoys an average of 9,929 retweet per tweet from his Spanish account and 7,527 from his English one, compared to Obama's 1,210.

The pope's most popular tweet yet was sent during his trip to the Philippines in January.