Thursday, June 30, 2011

Pope’s Messages Will Be Posted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

The Vatican, facing numerous problems related to communication with the public, launched a news portal, on Wednesday, June 29, in order to improve communication between the pope and the world.

The portal can be accessed at www.news.va and, according to Vatican officials, it was launched by Pope Benedict XVI, through a simple click. 

Also, on Wednesday, the 60th anniversary of the ordination of Pope Benedict XVI was celebrated.

The portal will group all sources of information from Vatican: newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Radio Vatican, Vatican Information Service (VIS), Center for Television in the Vatican, the Holy See Press Office and Fides Agency, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

The new website will be available at the beginning in English and Italian. 

Starting in autumn, versions in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese will be launched. 

One of the features of the new portal is its interaction with social network Facebook and microblogging platform Twitter.

Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, head of communications at the Vatican, will handle development and maintenance of the portal.

Representatives from the Vatican said that the new portal will serve the pope’s wish to broadcast messages to a much larger audience, via the internet. 

Pope’s messages will be posted on  Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

In the six years of papacy, Pope Benedict XVI has consistently campaigned for improving communication, often affected by Vatican’s internal bureaucracy.

Claudio Maria Celli said that the new portal was also created to provide information from the outside world to the Pope and the Vatican hopes that the new site will improve communication between departments of the Holy See.