The virtue of prayer in 140 characters or less
By SOPHIE INGE
ROME -- “Sites, applications and networks can help man pray and meditate,” Pope Benedict XVI said in a message to mark the 46th World Day of Social Communications. “Short messages, often no more than brief Bible verse, can be used to express deep thoughts,” he said, in reference to social media sites such as Twitter on which users post messages in 140 characters or less.
However, in an age where - according to Eurostat - 80% of young internet users in the EU and 73% of young Italians are active users of social media websites, the pontiff was also keen to highlight the virtues of silence. “Silence is an integral part of communication,” he said. “Without it there are no words rich in content. Silence and the word are two aspects of communication that should balance each other. When words and silence are mutually exclusive, communication deteriorates.”
The comments, which were made on Tuesday at a conference entitled ‘Silence and Word: Path of Evangelisation,’ mark a shift in the Roman Catholic stance on social networking as outlined at last year’s World Day of Social Communications, in which the pontiff urged Roman Catholics to adopt a more cautious “Christian style presence” when using social networking sites, reminding them that “virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives.”
Although the Vatican has not yet succumbed to Twitter and Facebook, it now has its own YouTube channel and its multimedia portal Pope2You.net allows followers to download speeches onto their I-Phones. The pope himself is certainly no stranger to modern technology. Last December, the pontiff used a Sony tablet to remotely light the world’s largest Christmas tree in Gubbio from his palace where he passed on his Christmas wishes via video link.