THR is reporting that the The Holy See himself, The Pope is getting his own Facebook page. Sadly, you won’t be able to poke him or write on his wall, but the church is convinced that this is a vital part of their campaign to get the youngsters back into the pews.
Of course, this is just part of their online strategy that includes the Pope’s new webiste, Pope2you.net, and the ability to now download his speeches onto your iPhone and iPod. Apparently, he’s not just the Pope, he’s also a Mac.
Monsignor Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican’s Social Communications department said this to explain the new strategy. “We recognize that a church that does not communicate ceases to be a church. Many young people today are not turning to traditional media like newspapers and magazines any more for information and entertainment. They are looking to a different media culture, and this is our effort to ensure that the Church is present in that communications culture.”
Along with the hip oratories that are sure to climb the iTunes charts quicker than Eminem’s latest released, you can also download more than a dozen different virtual post cards that feature the Pope and his messages of love and faith directed at teens.
The Vatican hopes that this will augment the less than epic results they’ve received from their Youtube Channel, youtube.com/vaticanit.
Here’s the problem though. The church refers to young people without having any idea of what they actually are. You will never get attention this way. Content is King, but Papal Speeches are drier than the typical “young persons'” mouth after the final hit from from their Jesus-shaped bong.
Where’s the content that speaks to people in their own language. Where are the pop culture videos from famous Catholics? Heck, where are the iPhone games that turn basic religious concepts into fun little adventures. I’d love a good iPhone Crusades game, but I’m pretty sure that would never happen.