Since the Holy Father is tweeting, I thought I would re-activate my Twitter account.
Hope to be a good Catholic presence in the digital world.
Follow me at @paulzalonski
Tag: social network
Benedict XVI to tweet… join in
You heard yesterday that Pope Benedict XVI is now tweeting. Terrific!
The Papal Twitter account is up and running: @Pontifex
As of right now, the English page has 381K followers, the German has 9.5K, the Spanish 88K, the Italian has 36K, the French has 7k and the Arabic has 3,000.
The Press Office of the Holy See said the following about the Papal presence in the digital media.
The The Pope’s presence on Twitter
is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in
the digital arena. This initiative is best understood in the context of his
reflections on the importance of the cultural space that has been brought into
being by the new technologies. In his Message for World Communications Day
2009, which was published on the same day as the Vatican’s Youtube channel was
opened, Pope Benedict spoke of the necessity of evangelizing the ‘digital
continent’ and he invited young believers, in particular, to introduce
into the culture of this new environment of communications and information
technology the values on which you have built your lives.
“Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization” explained
Earlier today, Monsignor Paul Tighe, the Secretary to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, talked about the Pope’s 2012 message for World Communications Day (May 20, 2012).
To some the combination of silence and word as a path to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ is a contradiction, mutually exclusive and not an adequate response to making the Name of the Lord known and loved. Not at all. God reveals Himself in words and deeds but He also speaks to us in silence. Indeed, in silence. Wonder and awe before the Divine Mystery is only lived in silence. The Church Fathers knew this; medieval saints and theologians knew this, and so does the contemporary Church. Father Jean-Pierre Ruiz of St John’s University (Queens, NY) speaks to the perceived contradiction here.
“Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization” is the 46th message of the pope’s speaking in favor of social communications. It is terrific, it is necessary, read it!!!!
Benedict XVI launches News.va with his new iPad
Today, Pope Benedict launched a new Vatican website with a new iPad.
The Pope made tweet today –the first ever by a Supreme Pontiff– when he launched the brand new news portal, News.va. This news portal collects all the communications into one place: the news will be updated in English at least 3 times a day.
And, what did the Pope say? His Holiness tweeted:
“Dear Friends, I just launched news.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI.”
He tweeted in English.
Watch the Pope as he’s presented with the iPad.
Is social media rebooting religion?
The past week the news has been consumed by the Anthony Weiner fiasco. His mis-use of Twitter is obviously very regrettable and it ought to cause each of us on Net to pause and ask ourselves: Are we doing good –are we responsible– by having a digital presence? What can be learned from Weiner (his own political fate has yet to be decided)? One lesson to learn: don’t let virtual replace the dignity of the personal relationship. The the thrill Weiner may have had for a second has vanished all-too-quickly to be real.
Claudio Celli advicates for greater use of social media
Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, has urged Catholics to evangelize the “digital culture.” He made his remarks on March 18. A common theme spoken of in recent weeks from various Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict. Celli’s office has been working overtime in recent weeks in tackling media in its various forms. And one must remember that it has taken aliong time to get where we are today, thanks in part to the good work of many laity, lower clergy and a Franciscan Sister of the Eucahrist Sister Judith Zoebelein. The Vatican has been on the web since 1995.
Archbishop Celle told L’Osservatore Romano in a March 17 interview that after Easter, the Holy See will launch a new news website that will gather all the Vatican media services into one portal in English, French and Italian with the hope to offer its media services in additional languages.
Continue reading Claudio Celli advicates for greater use of social media
Church’s use of the Net too often answers questions not asked
Kyle Logue’s essay on Christian Web Trends, “4 Reasons Why Church Websites Don’t Attract Visitors“. Kyle pinpoints a number of good things to keep in mind for the work sharing the faith with the outside world. Pay attention! His list includes:
- lack of interaction
- no easy way to share content
- lack of good content
- lack of purpose.
One could also quote Reinhold Niebuhr who once said:
“Nothing is so incredible as an answer to an unasked question. One half of the world has regarded the Christian answer to the problem of life and history as “foolishness” because it had no questions for which the Christian revelation was the answer and no longings and hopes that that revelation fulfilled” (The Nature and Destiny of Man, Vol. II. Human Destiny).
Pope Benedict on social communications: be truthful and authentic in relationships with God, self & others
Here’s Pope Benedict’s letter for the World Day of Social Communications. There many great things in the document to ponder for our own personal development in the face of Truth, gospel and our brothers and sisters.
On the occasion
of the 45th World Day of Social Communications, I would like to share some
reflections that are motivated by a phenomenon characteristic of our age: the
emergence of the internet as a network for communication. It is an ever more
commonly held opinion that, just as the Industrial Revolution in its day
brought about a profound transformation in society by the modifications it
introduced into the cycles of production and the lives of workers, so today the
radical changes taking place in communications are guiding significant cultural
and social developments. The new technologies are not only changing the way we
communicate, but communication itself, so much so that it could be said that we
are living through a period of vast cultural transformation. This means of
spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning
and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships
and building fellowship.