Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi breaks off from his rounds at the Vatican at least once a day to whip out his smartphone and shoot off a note to his followers: “Good morning, good people!” he tweets. The Vatican’s top culture man, “CardRavasi” tweets snappy quotes from the Bible, famous philosophers and dons, or passes on details about art festivals.
The aim, he says, is to keep religion relevant for a younger generation.
“The concise and pithy language of Twitter can teach religious communication a great deal,” Ravasi has said in interviews. His mission? To revitalize what faith means for “the children of television and the Internet”.
President of the Pontifical Council for Culture since 2007, Ravasi is keen to get priests, bishops and other cardinals to use Twitter, Internet blogs and social networking sites to bring to life the Bible’s wealth of stories.
“A child today, who passes an entire afternoon in front of a computer screen, has a different way of communicating from ours… We want to become part of the minimal, almost microscopic communication of tweets,” he said.
Humorous or serious, Ravasi’s tweets — much like the blog he writes for Italy’s Sole 24 Ore financial newspaper — often include words of support for the country’s disaffected youth, caught in the grip of an economic crisis.
Other Notable Tweeters
- Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer, American Sean Patrick O’Malley, Italian Angelo Scola and South African Wilfrid Fox Napier also tweet — out of 200 plus cardinals in the world many of whom might not be quite as tech-savvy.
- In the wilds of Oxfordshire in England, Benedictine nun Catherine Wybourne — who describes herself as keen on God, books and technology — tweets about life in a monastery, as well as answering faith questions from followers.
- Even Pope Benedict XVI has had a go, tweeting from an iPad in June. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessing, Benedictus XVI,” read his first tweet, which he signed with his formal Latin name.
While some critics protest that using Twitter may banalise the Church’s message, “grey and dry” traditional preaching has no chance of competing with the colour and drama of computer games, Ravasi said at a conference in Rome.
“We need to remember that communicating faith does not just take place through sermons. It can be achieved with just 140 characters.”
Tags: Cardinal, Digital culture, evangelization, Youth
