Pope tells priests: Blog for God

By William Wan

An interesting message out of the Vatican this weekend (delivered over Pope Benedict XVI's YouTube channel, no less. Who knew the Pope even had his own YouTube channel). Essentially, Benedict gave a message urging priests to blog, tweet, use Facebook, and otherwise harness the power of online communications for the kingdom of God.

"Responding adequately to this challenge amid today's cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies," he said. "The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul's exclamation: 'Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel'"

It should be noted that this comes from an 82-year-old Pope who has not always been enamored with technology. As AP story notes, he "has often been wary of new media, warning about what he has called the tendency of entertainment media, in particular, to trivialize sex and promote violence, while lamenting that the endless stream of news can make people insensitive to tragedies." And the ambivalence seems to extend into the Catholic church as a whole. Some may recall the interesting push last year for Catholics to give up texting for Lent.

Benedict's message this weekend was given as part of the annual World Communications Day. He told young priests to start early in learning how to use the web to reach their flock, but he also leavened his urging saying, "Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ."

More on the Pope's message at Catholic News Service story and blog.

William Wan

| January 25, 2010; 8:18 AM ET | Category: God in Government Save & Share:

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Pope tells priests: Blog for God

William Wan

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