VATICAN CITY – The Holy Father’s Message for the 44th World Day of Communications – “The priest and pastoral ministry in a digital world: new media at the service of the Word”

Nota Bene: The complete text of the Holy Father’s message is available by clicking here:  World Day of Communications 2010

Pope Benedict told priests on Saturday, saying they must learn to use new forms of communication to spread the gospel message.

In his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Communications, the pope, who is 82 and known not to love computers or the internet, acknowledged priests must make the most of the “rich menu of options” offered by new technology.

“Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources — images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites — which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis,” he said.

Priests, he said, had to respond to the challenge of “today’s cultural shifts” if they wanted to reach young people.

But Benedict warned priests not to strive to become stars of new media.

“Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart,” he said.

After decades of being wary of new media, the Vatican has decided to dive in head first. Last year, a new Vatican website, www.pope2you.net, went live, offering one application called “The pope meets you on Facebook,” and another allowing the faithful to see the pope’s speeches and messages on their iPhones or iPods.

Benedict still writes most of his speeches by hand in German and it is younger aides who manage his forays into cyberspace.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 4:25 pm and is filed under Papal Messages and Documents, Pope Benedict XVI, Year of the Priesthood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.