06 Dec 2012
It’s been a long time coming, but there a sense that the Vatican have really begun to explore the importance of social media in our world today. Pope Benedict XVI launched his Twitter account earlier this week and now has well over 500,000 followers, even though he hasn’t started tweeting yet. Tweets will begin on the 12 December to celebrate theĀ Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and come every Wednesday thereafter to begin with.
More and more people are engaging with one another online through sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Linkedin to name but a few. These present fantastic opportunities for people to discuss, celebrate and explore their faith. They also enable us to share the Good News that we profess through our lives, which is of vital importance during this Year of Faith.
“Part of the challenge for the Church in the area of new media is to establish a networked or capillary presence that can effectively engage the debates, discussions and dialogues that are facilitated by social media and that invite direct, personal and timely responses of a type that are not so easily achieved by centralized institutions,” the Catholic church has said in a press release detailing the Pope’s decision to join Twitter. “Moreover, such a networked or capillary structure reflects the truth of the Church as a community of communities which is alive both universally and locally. The Popeās presence in Twitter will represent his voice as a voice of unity and leadership for the Church but it will also be a powerful invitation to all believers to express their āvoicesā, to engage their āfollowersā and āfriendsā and to share with them the hope of the Gospel that speaks of Godās unconditional love for all men and women.”