No longer do you need to make the long trek all the way to St Peter’s to see the Pope: now you can stream him direct to your smartphone! The Pope2You portal features links to their Facebook and iPhone apps, WikiCath and the Vatican’s YouTube channel.
This is something of a turn-around for the Vatican, after the Pope came under fire earlier this year after he lifted excommunication of the Holocaust denying Bishop Richard Williamson. Footage of a television programme in which he did so on air was soon produced, and the Pope admitted that somebody should have done a web search before he was let back in. And while cautioning that the internet can be used to spread hate and pornography, people should try to foster a world-wide sense of fraternity, and even use it evangelise.
The architect of Pope2You was Rev. Paolo Padrini, of iPhone app iBreviary fame. His mission (pun intended) with the Facebook app was to keep the focus on the Church, rather than the personality of the Pope. This does not mean all clergy refrain from Facebook profiles, however, including some Cardinals.
Padrini is not sure, however, if the Pope is even aware of his own portal.
apud Ariel David ‘Vatican takes tech-savvy approach‘, msnbc (22/5/09)
