This Article is From May 26, 2009

Now, Pope on Facebook

Vatican/Rome: Web surfers can now send virtual postcards of Pope Benedict XVI to their Facebook friends or follow the pontiff's travel on their iPhones.

Under a papacy that has suffered communication woes, the Vatican is taking new, technologically savvy steps to bring its message to social networking sites and smartphones.

In its first day of operation on Thursday, the Pope2You portal gathered some 45-thousand contacts and 500 thousand page views, while a Facebook application that sends postcards with photos of Benedict and excerpts from his messages was used around 10-thousand times, the head of the project said.

Reverend Paolo Padrini also said that to his knowledge the main portal Pope2You had by Monday reached a record number of 3 (m) million hits.

Also available on the portal is an application for iPhone and iPod Touch that gives surfers video and audio news on the pope's trips and speeches, as well as on Catholic events worldwide.

The new website is the latest update in the Vatican's efforts to broaden the pope's audience and reach out to young people.

In January, Benedict got his own YouTube channel, which is now linked to the portal.

Earlier this year, the Internet figured in one of Benedict's most criticised moves, lifting the excommunication of a renegade bishop who had denied the Holocaust.

Benedict sparked outrage by reaching out to excommunicated, ultraconservative bishop, Richard Williamson, whose denial of the Holocaust during an interview with Swedish TV shot around the world on the Net.

In a rare public acknowledgment of Vatican mistakes, the pope released a letter saying that officials should have searched the Web for information on Williamson, and said the Holy See needed to make greater use of the Internet.

While warning against the potential use of new media to spread violent messages and pornography, the 82-year-old
Benedict also has encouraged young Catholics to use the Internet responsibly.

On Wednesday he told pilgrims at his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square that young people should use the Internet to build a better world through bonds of friendship and solidarity, adding that the digital world can help make the Gospel known.

For Padrini, an Italian priest and tech whiz who led the Pope2You project, giving Benedict a presence on the world's largest online social network was in keeping with the church's communications strategy, which has evolved over the centuries.

Padrini said the new project aimed to put the focus on the church by creating a Facebook application rather than a personal profile for Benedict like those made for stars and world leaders, including US President Barack Obama.
Some top clergymen do have profiles on Facebook, including Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the archbishop of Naples.
The Pope2You portal is run by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications and is available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
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