Published: Friday 13th November, 2009 | Author: Sylvie Barak
Companies: Google (All Google content), Facebook (All Facebook content)
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email to a friendIt seems a holy web is being weaved as top brass from Facebook, Wikipedia and Google converge on the Vatican to teach Catholic officials more about the Internet and "digital youth culture" at a four day symposium.
The European bishop's media commission is playing host to the symposium, which will be debating whether the Internet is changing religious practices, whilst examining the effects of social networks and, presumably, whether or not the Vatican should get with the times and play Farmville like everyone else.
The Holy See apparently plans to get a wide overview of both the good and the bad when it comes to the Internet, ranging from the benefits of the Web in spreading the gospel, right down to the sins of cyber-crime and Internet copyright issues; A sort of Angels and Demons approach to the net, if you will.
Around 100 participants are expected to attend, as Pope Benedict XVI - who e-mails, surfs the Web, listens to an iPod and owns a laptop - makes the sanctifying of cyber space a personal crusade.
The gathered bishops will also learn how to combat the threat of hacking, with advice from a reformed young hacker from Switzerland and an Interpol expert on cybercrime.
Although the pope showed a certain level of Internet awareness by launching a YouTube channel earlier this year, the Church also recently came under fire when it was discovered that a simple Google search could have spared his Holiness the embarrassment of lifting an excommunication from an ultraconservative bishop, discovered to be a Holocaust denier.
Indeed, Benedict even wrote a letter to his bishops acknowledging the gaffe, saying he had learned a lesson and that the Vatican should pay more attention to the Internet as a source of news from now on.
The Pope's predecessor, John Paul II, had already realised the value of the Internet in spreading the Church's message to the younger generation over a decade ago, by launching a Vatican Web site in 1995 with virtual tours of the Vatican Museums and audio feeds from Vatican Radio.
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Vatican learns from from Facebook, Google
Title making no sense, man !Quote
He also reminds me of emperor Palpatine :surprised:
Oh good, I thought it was just me who thought he looked like Darth Sidius...Quote
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