By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Pope2You.net, a new website designed to help young people from around the world get to know Pope Benedict XVI, received almost half a million hits on its first day in operation.
According to a report by the Catholic News Agency, webmaster Father Paolo Padrini said the new site, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Laity and launched this past weekend, is intended “to create a climate of belonging, of participating in the Church, through ever greater closeness with the Holy Father.”
The new site allows users to learn the teachings of Benedict XVI on Facebook, download tools for iPhones and have access to the Vatican on Youtube.
Father Padrini noted that what “is on Facebook is not a profile, but rather a place to share, because the Pope obviously does not need a profile to introduce himself…Dialogue with him is dialogue based on our daily realities of school, work, and the parish. This is promoted by him and is later made concrete in the sharing of our friends on the internet.”
Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Vatican Council for Social Communications, said in a recent interview with ZENIT News that the project is aimed at educating youth on the responsible use of new technologies. He said the site allows young people to do many of the things they can do on other sites, but with a twist.
“Through this site,” Archbishop Celli continued, “young people can send virtual cards to friends, cards with an attractive image of the Pope and a quote taken from one of his addresses. . . . This is a way to spread the values that we believe in. We hope that the youth know how to take advantage of this means of communication so that the message of the Gospel is known by the youth of today’s world. This is the reason for this site.”
To learn more, visit http://www.pope2you.net/
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