Use of Internet by Church Is Encouraged

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 16, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II encouraged the use of Internet by the Church as an especially appropriate means to evangelize young people.

The Pope expressed this Friday when he received a group of visiting French bishops in audience, and applauded their efforts to evangelize via Internet.

Referring to the reports the bishops gave him, the Holy Father noted the “complex and difficult context in which young people live. Their cultural universe is characterized by the new communication technologies, which transform their relation with the world, with time and with others, and which mold their behavior.”

“This creates a culture of the ephemeral and immediate, which is not always favorable profundity, interior maturation, or moral discernment,” he added.

“However, the use of the new means of communication has an interest that no one can deny,” the Pope said.

“Your conference and numerous dioceses have well understood the positive character of this change, proposing Internet sites directed especially to young people, where it is possible to be informed, to be formed, and to discover the different proposals of the Church,” he said.

“I cannot but encourage the development of these instruments to serve the Gospel and to promote dialogue and communication,” he added.
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