The European Bishops’ Commission
for the Media met for
a four day conference in Rome
this past week to discuss the
use of social networking technology
in the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Claudio Celli,
president of the Pontifical Council
for Social Communications,
spoke at the meeting and noted
that less than a third of Catholic
websites take advantage of
available Web 2.0 technology.
Speaking about the Internet,
Celli said, “Generally, other instruments
for evangelical proclamation
and for Christian formation are
favored, while the means of social
communication are left to the initiative
of individuals or small groups,
and they enter the pastoral program
only at the secondary level.”
Presenting at the conference
were executives from Facebook,
YouTube, and Wikipedia. At this
meeting, moderated by Jim Mc-
Donnell of the Signis World Catholic
Association of Communication,
attendants were asked who had a
Facebook profile – one in four attendants
raised their hand. One in
ten said they had collaborated on
Wikipedia, and one in six said they
had uploaded videos to YouTube.
For nearly fifteen years, the
Church has utilized the internet
as a form of mass communication.
Since 1995, the Vatican
has managed its official website
(vatican.va), which is filled with
thousands of Church documents,
press releases, pieces of Italian
artwork, rare manuscripts,
and other valuable information.
In a 2006 interview with
BusinessWeek, the editorial director
of the Vatican’s website, Sister
Judith Zoebelein, said of the Internet,
“[It’s] very Franciscan: You
can touch it, you can change it,
and you can touch people with it.”
But static websites do not have
the same power as they had just
a few years ago. The internet has
been evolving into what is called,
“Web 2.0,” a web built on interaction
and content sharing between users.
Embracing this type of social
media, the Holy See launched
an official YouTube channel
(youtube.com/vatican) in January
2009, where it has since uploaded
over 400 videos in collaboration
with Vatican Radio.
At the 43rd World Day of Communications
on January 24, 2009,
Pope Benedict XVI presented a letter
in which he discussed the changing
patterns of communication and
the importance of social media.
Benedict wrote, “These technologies
are truly a gift to humanity
and we must endeavour
to ensure that the benefits they
offer are put at the service of all
human individuals and communities,
especially those who are most
disadvantaged and vulnerable.”
He said that the popularity of
social networks “should not surprise
us, as they respond to a fundamental
desire of people to communicate
and to relate to each other.
This desire for communication and
friendship is rooted in our very
nature as human beings and cannot
be adequately understood as a
response to technical innovations.”
Following the publication of
the letter, a series of social networking
applications were released by
the Holy See, including a Facebook
application and iPhone application
which provide messages and news
announcements from the Vatican.
Interestingly, this past week
Archbishop Celli commented that
the Pope “sends his own personal
emails. He does! He has great appreciation
for new technology,” and
is even comfortable surfing the web.
Since the establishment of
Vatican Radio, in cooperation with
Guglielmo Marconi, in February
1931, the Holy See has considered
mass communication an important
part of its mission to spread the Gospel.
At the Second Vatican Council,
the document Inter Mirfica (1963)
emphasized the importance of the
“media of social communication.”
“All the children of the Church
should join, without delay and with
the greatest effort in a common
work to make effective use of the
media of social communication
in various apostolic endeavors, as
circumstances and conditions demand,”
declared the document.
While Inter Mirfica was written
before the invention of the
World Wide Web, its message
holds even more importance in
our current world of constant social
communication through mass
media. The theme for the European
bishops’ Commission for the
Media conference, “The Internet
culture and Church communications”
is one that is of vital importance
if the Church is to continue to
successfully utilize modern media.