The Pope Goes Digital. Hallelujah!
Written on 7th May 2008
5 COMMENTS 
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
It might take a while before we can welcome Pope Benedict to Facebook and Twitter but in July he will text message thousands of young Catholics on their mobile phones during World Youth Day in Sydney. The catholic church hopes that going digital will help them connect better with younger people.
The Pope will personally send daily short messages to the estimated 225,000 youngsters attending the event. Next to texting they will also erect digital prayer walls at event sites.
The church will set up a Catholic social networking Web site that will compete with Facebook. So much for adopting existing technologies.
The technology will be provided by Australian telecoms firm Telstra. They plan to connect 8,000 volunteers, 2,000 clergy, 3,000 media and an anticipated 225,000 pilgrims to more than 700 locations around Sydney.
The Catholic church is the biggest in Australia with about 5 million members. Lets hope they all sign-up for GodBook, Godtube and Praytter.
Amen.
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By anon on May 7, 2008
Speaking of religion moving online, check out this site where people confess their sins online, anonymously: http://iconfessmyself.blogspot.com
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By Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten on May 7, 2008
Thanks for the suggestion Anon. I’m not sure I am going to trust a random blog with ALL my sins. ;-)
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By Aj on May 8, 2008
For confession I prefer : http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ the picturepostcards make it much more entertaining.
Father Roderick “The Catholic Insider” from Amersfoort is one of the most advanced Catholics in new media. He has almost a thousand “sheep” on Twitter.
http://twitter.com/FatherRoderick
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By Aj on May 8, 2008
Father Roderick “The Catholic Insider” from Amersfoort already has almost 800 followers on Twitter http://twitter.com/FatherRoderick
There is also a daily PSP : Pray Station Portable (Podcast)
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By adam on May 10, 2008
Pope Benedict, a holly father of 1.1 billion, has done a great promotion for Apple iPhone holding and waving iPhone in his hand in front of a big crowd of people/children. (How much would have such an advert being published in the very many world media houses cost, otherwise?) Congratulations to Apple marketing department!
Boris I like your finish by
Amen.
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