Pope Tells Priests: Go Forth And Blog (and get digital fast!)

VATICAN CITY, Jan. 25, 2010, 09.50 Hrs:

Pope Benedict XVI has a new commandment for priests struggling to get their message across: Go forth and blog.

The pope, whose own presence on the web has heavily grown in recent years, urged priests on Saturday to use all multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel and engage in dialogue with people of other religions and cultures.

And just using email or surfing the web is often not enough: Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities, Benedict said in a message released by the Vatican.

“The spread of multimedia communications and its rich ‘menu of options’ might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the web,” but priests are “challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources,” he said.

The message, prepared for the World Day of Communications, suggests such possibilities as images, videos, animated features, blogs, and websites. Benedict said young priests should become familiar with new media while still in seminary, though he stressed that the use of new technologies must reflect theological and spiritual principles.

The 82-year-old pope has often been wary of new media, warning about what its tendency to trivialize sex and promote violence. But Benedict has also praised new ways of communicating as a “gift to humanity” when used to foster friendship and understanding.

Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, who heads the Vatican’s social communications office, said that Benedict’s words aimed to encourage reflection in the church on the positive uses of new media. “That doesn’t mean that (every priest) must open a blog or a website. It means that the church and the faithful must engage in this ministry in a digital world,” Celli said. AP