After the death of Pope Francis, world leaders expressed condolences to the Vatican, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who expressed sympathy in a formal message commonly known as the telegram.
A government spokesman clarified the message, following a long-standing diplomatic tradition, and Germany sent condolences or congratulations to the official through “telegram”.
The spokesman clarified that although the term has returned to a different era, such messages are now usually sent through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant embassies, usually in printed copies followed by POST.
Scholz also paid tribute to Pope Francis on social media platform X, separate from formal diplomatic exchanges.
Although the number of telegrams sent each year has dropped rapidly since the 1980s, telegram services are still operating around the world.
The German Post Office stopped providing telegraph services in 2022, ending the fastest form of communication that once was the world’s fastest emergency political and military information.
