Blogging nuns, Tweeting monks, even a Pope

Blogging nuns, tweeting monks, even a Pope? Elizabeth Segran writes a piece in a business magazine “Blogging nuns, tweeting monks, and the Catholic Church’s digital revolution  Do you believe in… the Power of Facebook to fan the flocks passionate flames. Another view of approaches to the “new evangelization”.

(There is) a movement sweeping the Catholic world: monks, nuns, everyday people of faith, and, most famously, the Pope himself, are embracing digital media. They are also thoughtfully helping people navigate its darker side. Pope Francis recently said that the Internet is a gift from God–he does, after all have 14 millionTwitter followers across nine accounts and languages–but in his next breath, he issued a warning about how it can substitute for more fulfilling human contact.

When I ask Catholics about their hip, tech-savvy Pope, they’re quick to point out that the church has always been up to date with the latest technology trends. “We were all over the printing press when it first came out,” Lisa Hendey, a Catholic writer, tells me with a laugh. Six centuries after monks became early adopters of moveable type, Catholic institutions continue to show keen interest in the workings of the modern media. In 1963, the Vatican issued a decree that specifically addressed all forms of social communication (called the Inter Mirifica in Latin) which encouraged Catholics to take advantage of these emerging tools for the good of mankind.

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