VOICE
OF UNITY AND LEADERSHIP FOR THE CHURCH
Vatican
City, 3 December 2012 (VIS) - A press conference was held this
morning in the Holy See Press Office to explain the presence of the
Pope on Twitter and to provide additional information on the use of
the new media in the Vatican.
The
conference was presented by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president
of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Msgr. Paul
Tighe, secretary of the same dicastery, Fr. Federico Lombardi,
director of the Holy See Press Office, Vatican Radio and the Vatican
Television Centre, Professor Gian Maria Vian, editor of
'L'Osservatore Romano' and Greg Burke, media advisor to the
Secretariat of State. Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Twitter's director of Social
Innovation, was also present.
Given
below are extracts from the English-language Note explaining the
presence of the Holy Father on Twitter:
"The
Pope's presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction
that the Church must be present in the digital arena. ... The Pope's
presence on Twitter can be seen as the 'tip of the iceberg' that is
the Church's presence in the world of new media. The Church is
already richly present in this environment – there exist a whole
range of initiatives from the official websites of various
institutions and communities to the personal sites, blogs and
micro-blogs of public church figures and of individual believers. The
Pope's presence on Twitter is ultimately an endorsement of the
efforts of these 'early adapters' to ensure that the Good News of
Jesus Christ and the teaching of his Church is permeating the forum
of exchange and dialogue that is being created by social media. His
presence is intended to be an encouragement to all Church
institutions and people of faith to be attentive to develop an
appropriate profile for themselves and their convictions in the
'digital continent'. The Pope's tweets will be available to believers
and non-believers to share, discuss and to encourage dialogue. It is
hoped that the Pope's short messages, and the fuller messages that
they seek to encapsulate, will give rise to questions for people from
different countries, languages and cultures".
"Part
of the challenge for the Church in the area of new media is to
establish a networked or capillary presence that can effectively
engage the debates, discussions and dialogues that are facilitated by
social media and that invite direct, personal and timely responses of
a type that are not so easily achieved by centralized institutions.
Moreover, such a networked or capillary structure reflects the truth
of the Church as a community of communities which is alive both
universally and locally. The Pope's presence on Twitter will
represent his voice as a voice of unity and leadership for the Church
but it will also be a powerful invitation to all believers to express
their 'voices', to engage their 'followers' and 'friends' and to
share with them the hope of the Gospel that speaks of God’s
unconditional love for all men and women".
"In
addition to the direct engagement with the questions, debates and
discussions of people that is facilitated by new media, the Church
recognizes the importance of new media as an environment that allows
to teach the truth that the Lord has passed to His Church, to listen
to others, to learn about their cares and concerns, to understand who
they are and for what they are searching. ... It is for this reason
that it has been decided to launch the Pope's Twitter channel with a
formal question and answer format. This launch is also an indication
of the importance that the Church gives to listening and is a
warranty of its ongoing attentiveness to the conversations,
commentaries and trends that express so spontaneously and insistently
the preoccupations and hopes of people".
The first
tweets from the Pope's handle on Twitter will be given on 12
December, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Initially tweets will be
published with the Wednesday general audiences, although they may
subsequently become more frequent. The first tweets, on 12 December,
will respond to questions put to the Pope on matters of faith. The
public can send questions between now and 12 December in the
languages listed below. The official Papal handle is @pontifex.
In
addition to English, tweets will also be published in the following
languages:
Spanish
@pontifex_es
Italian
@pontifex_it
Portuguese
@pontifex_pt
German
@pontifex_de
Polish
@pontifex_pl
Arabic
@pontifex_ar
French
@pontifex_fr
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