Pope Tells the Church to Give God a Blog

by Amar Toor on January 25, 2010 at 10:01 AM

Take it from us: surviving in the blog-o-sphere ain't easy. With the seemingly infinite number of online magazines and voices screaming for attention, it truly is a blog-eat-blog world. And now it looks like the streets are getting even rougher and tougher, thanks to a new fat cat on the blogging block: God Almighty.

In a message previewing the theme of this May's "World Communications Day," Pope Benedict XVI called for Catholic priests to take full advantage of the communicative potential that social media offers, and to start blogging prolifically. Citing the "rich menu of options" that digital media provides, the Pope encouraged priests and clergy members to "proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites)," all of which "can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis." Though, just because they're dressed in glittery robes and hats doesn't mean that priests will be tricking out their blogs and Facebook pages with the same sense of debonair flashiness. As USAToday reports, the Pope advised his followers to be more austere (or, dare we say Calvinist?) when it comes to Web-design aesthetics. He elaborated, "[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."

For centuries, the Catholic Church has been pretty much synonymous with stalwart conservatism, and a ~~stubborn~~ steadfast commitment to tradition. While it'd be hard for anyone to call the Church "cutting edge," it appears that there's been something of a Holy See change going on in recent years. In the last year alone, Pope Benny has introduced an official Vatican YouTube page and a set of Facebook and iPhone apps as part of his interactive Pope2you initiative. Say what you will about the Church's social or political positions or even Benedict XIV's own controversial past, but when an object as ostensibly immovable as the Catholic Church starts heading online, it's a sure sign that the world is changing. [From: The Vatican; via: USAToday and Mashable]

Tags: blogs, catholic, Pope, popebenedictxvi, religion, social media, social networking, SocialMedia, SocialNetworking, top

Comments

rlbduqJan 25th 2010 3:14PM

Neutral

I find this article to be very inappropriate in its reference to Pope Benedict as Pope Bennie. Whether Catholic or not, some respect should be shown for the head of a major religious denomination. Perhaps this is a desperate attempt to be funny or cool...but it fails on both counts. AOL should be able to find less offensive writers on topics of interest.

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Robert GreenJan 25th 2010 7:35PM

Neutral

Gee whiz, that's an awful lot of autonomy the Poop is giving his ecolites............ Isn't he afraid they might come in contact with the REAL WORLD????????????

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PaulamvbowenJan 25th 2010 8:51PM

Neutral

Pope Benedict is just a man and it would be a good thing to realize that he should not be the head of a Church. Only Jesus Christ heads up the Church - that is the people who follow Him. It is breaking the commandments to look up to any man as the head of any Church - The pope is nothing more than an idol and idol worship is paganism.

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SquigglesJan 25th 2010 3:16PM

Neutral

Considering that the Catholic Church is more known for its conservatism than innovation, this is surprising. Then again, the Pope is acting like a good CEO should, by getting his church publicity by any means available. Considering that not everybody goes to church but millions of people go online, this was indeed a savvy move to get his (or God's?) message out. And the new blogs will have another positive side effect: when priests spend more of their time blogging they'll spend less time molesting altar boys. So, everybody wins!

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Michelle Dechesne-MonroeJan 25th 2010 3:27PM

Neutral

All that needs 2 be said here is: DITTO!

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ptmcgregorJan 25th 2010 3:33PM

Highly Ranked

I agree. I found the tone of this article very snide. It was also just plain wrong on several counts. You may not find the Church "cutting edge," but its opposition to capital punishment, the Iraq war, etc., sounds pretty cutting edge to me. Get to know the whole Church, not just the parts you don't like.

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EnusJan 25th 2010 5:56PM

Neutral

Since when do Catholic priests speak for God Almighty?

The last I heard, the Southern Baptists owned God. The Pope had better check with Pat Robertson before this goes any further.

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PaulamvbowenJan 25th 2010 8:50PM

Neutral

Catholic priests or even the pope can speak for God Almighty. God spoke to us in the Written Word, the Holy Bible and neither the pope or the priests understand the Holy Bible or they would not teach the pure blasphey that they teach.

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Slayer RocksJan 25th 2010 7:10PM

Neutral

Just what the world needs - more superstitious hogwash about the man-made 'G-Man' in the sky being propagated over the internet now. Humanity would be so much better off if religions were never invented. Sure, some of them have done some good, but overall - all the killings and wars throughout history - all in the name of religion - even today in 2010 in the middle east. Religions once thought that the sun revolved around the earth - funny how that fact was left out of the bible. Plus, in modern times - all religions want to do is stifle anything scientific - like stem cell research. Funny - how when priests and popes get ill - they go running to the latest hi-tech hospitals for the most advanced state of the art medical care. If they really believed in the good old 'G-man,' instead of hospitals, they'd do a few more hail-maries. What a friggin' joke religions are, and if people are stupid enough to believe the crap they put out - have at it - just don't try to force that BS down my throat.

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PaulamvbowenJan 25th 2010 8:50PM

Neutral

Shows how much you don't know the hail mary is not a prayer to God and religion for the most part is man-made. The Holy Bible is the foundation and the ONLY foundation for knowing the true God and Who He is and What He is All About and how He sent His Son to this Earth to die for our sins the hail mary - get a life, dude!!!!!!!!!

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CaoimhínJan 25th 2010 9:53PM

Neutral

What a lot of people don’t realize is The Catholic Church in fact is and historically has been on the cutting edge of human thought. It is after all The Catholic Church that gave us the “scientific method;” it operates the largest private astronomical observatory; the previous Pope, JPII was a giant in the intellectual world; he headed the Department of Ethics at Catholic University in Lublin, he authored “The Acting Person: A Contribution to Phenomenological Anthropology.” The Church gave us the current calendar, was the first and is the oldest democracy in the world. The church was the first to formalize and promote human rights, and The Church aided by Holy Scripture was the first organization to formalize and promote what eventually became known as Environmentalism.

The notion of The Church as a stodgy ignorant slow moving bull is proffered and held only by those who already hate the word of God, and are not willing to look at any facts.

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