Pope Benedict XVI on Friday reached out to the digital generation and launched his own channel on the popular video-sharing YouTube website.The site will be updated with daily news bulletins initially in English, Spanish, German and Italian, said Vatican press office chief, Federico Lombardi.
The website (www.youtube.com/vaticanit) will carry up to four video clips a day of the Pope's speeches and activities and also contains links to Vatican Radio, the Vatican daily newspaper Osservatore Romano and information on the Vatican, Lombardi told a media conference in Rome.
Benedict has personally approved the project which was launched on the church's World Day of Communications, Lombardi added.
The Internet is a "real gift for humanity" the 81-year-old pontiff said of Friday's web launch. But he warned that if online relations replaced time spent with one's family, neighbours and face to face meetings, this would be a source of great "sadness".
In his message for the World Day of Communications, Benedict urged producers of new media to ensure their content respected human dignity and the "goodness and intimacy of human sexuality."
The channel is non-profit and the Vatican is not paying money to YouTube owner Google or receiving money for it, Lombardi told reporters. The channel will not carry advertising, Lombardi said.
The Vatican hopes YouTube owner Google Inc. will help it work out how it can better project its image.
Benedict is joining public figures including US president Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II who have launched their own YouTube channels in a bid to broaden their audience and reach more young people.
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(Source: AKI)