A choice selection of Pope John Paul II's sayings are set to pop up on the mobile phones of devout Italian Roman Catholics, thanks to a new text message subscription offer.Mobile phone service provider Vodafone Italia and Lux Vide, an Italian television production company, are set to launch the service in late February, an Italian newspaper reported Thursday.
Vodafone were not immediately available to comment on the report published in Milan-daily Corriere della Sera.
At a cost of 25 euro cents (36 US dollar cents) for each message admirers of John Paul II who died in 2005 can receive one sms daily containing one of the Polish-born pontiff's well-known phrases, the report said.
"Through research we discovered that our clients are not only interested in news but also in spiritual messages andmoral support," Vodafone Italia' Multimedia Marketing head, Vittorio Veltroni, told Corriere della Sera. S
ayings made famous by John Paul II include: "Don't be afraid! Throw open up your doors to Christ!".
To help them select the most appropriate phrases uttered by John Paul II during his almost 27-year long pontificate - the second longest in history - Vodafone have recruited his longtime spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, according to Corriere della Sera.
"For some time I realized that the new technologies can attract people's attention on these (spiritual) themes and not only games and advertising," Navarro-Valls told Corriere della Sera.
But those who belong to other faiths, or who seek their inspiration from the words of the great philosophers, should not feel left out, according to Vodafone.
By activating Option 2, Vodafone clients will be able to receive sayings made famous by the likes of Confucius, the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, the report said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce