Thursday, January 29, 2009

View the Holy See

I had a classmate from grade school whose name is John Paul but I found out through Friendster (when it was still en vogue) that he now goes by the name of Pontiff. At the time, I thought that was the closest I could get to having the Pope on my friends list. That, however, no longer holds true. Apparently, you can't find God in Friendster and according to the Pope himself, neither can you find him in My Space but there's a chance you might find him in You Tube.

Eighty six year-old Pope Benedict The XVI recently launched the Vatican's first You Tube channel. According to the Vatican, this is a way of "involving people in the dialogue of truth." The move is aimed at bringing the message of the Catholic Church to a wider (and perhaps younger) audience. Now, the Faithful from all over the world can have access to the Pope's messages through this multi-lingual site. The launch was done in true Vatican fashion: with a warning- that while social networking has its advantages, its obsessive use may lead to division and isolation. Only time will tell if the Pope can get as much hits as SNL's Special Christmas Box, Ken Lee, or Paris Hilton Meets Lady Gaga but having his own channel is definitely a start. According to the head of Vatican's Social Communications Office, the Holy See is contemplating a similar presence on Facebook. It's not impossible to have the Pope as your virtual pal. Blasphemers like my grade school friend beware: with the Pope as his agent, God will indeed be everywhere.

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