(afp/newscom)
Move over Obama, now the pope’s on YouTube
By Jimmy Orr | 01.23.09
Well, why not?
If President Obama can launch a White House YouTube site, why can’t the pope?
Consider it done. Pope Benedict XVI today debuted his own channel on the video sharing site, with 12 different videos and a promise to update the site daily with a new video.
YouTube and God
In a welcome message titled, “[The] Internet a new way to speak of God,” the pope said, “You must find new ways to spread voices and images of hope through the ever-evolving communications system that surrounds our planet.”
“I think that the purpose of a communications tool like this one is to help build up a large family that knows no borders,” he said in another video. “One in which, with its variety of cultures and languages, all people are brothers and sisters. In this way they represent a force for peace.”
Younger crowd
Although it’s not likely we’re going to see clips of Pope Benedict XVI ghost-riding the Popemobile, the goal of the channel is to reach out to younger people.
“With the YouTube platform, we now have the capacity to give young people direct access to the thinking, to the thoughts, to the words and deeds of the pope,” Monsignor Paul Tighe told CNN. “That allows them to share that with their friends.”
Vatican TV and radio will initially provide most of the content. The site will be updated daily they say and will eventually offer interactive features so visitors can upload their own videos (although ghost-riding will probably be discouraged).
Is Facebook next?
Archbishop Claudio Celli told Reuters that they wouldn’t rule it out. Some cardinals already use it, like Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe.
And the pope has already talked about online social media, albeit in a cautioning tone.”It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbors and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation,” the pope wrote.
“If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development,” he said.
Surge
Although there are plenty of news articles out about the launch of the new site, one news source reports there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest in the new site.
“The channel … lagged way down the list of popular YouTube videos,” AFP reported. “A video entitled ‘Bratz Dolls May Give Girls Unrealistic Expectations Of Head Size’ was at the top of the site’s flagged clips at the same time, having racked up more than 185,000 views.”
The pope shouldn’t feel that bad. More than 2,300 people have subscribed to his videos in less than one day. Meanwhile, just 3,400 people have subscribed to President Obama’s video channel, and it’s been up since Tuesday.
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2. mike | 01.24.09
The Pope just demonstrated cynicism and a total lack of regard for the truth, something that is essentially the foundation of his own preaching.
By rehabilitating a Holocaust denier - someone who is denying truth - the Pope has finally demonstrated what he and his entire preachings are made of.
I for one cannnot have a single drop of respect for such a person.
3. Mike J | 01.24.09
What’s really going on is that the Catholic church is seeing its power and numbers dwindle. The number of non-religious people in the US and Europe already far outnumber all conservative Christians combined.
And I think young people are starting to see through the hypocrisy and doubletalk. The Catholic church isn’t about salvation or morality, it’s about power and wealth, and its messages are carefully crafted to hold onto that as long as possible.
5. Joseph | 01.24.09
Today,s troubles are enough for the POPE to solve.
We can only remember the past histories by asking GOD,s pardon for the sins committed by that time.
The present pope was just a boy at the time of Holocaust.
But we are happy to see him fighting against homosexuality which is the bad kind of the worst practical behaviours of this time!
6. Thomas | 01.24.09
Yeah, I am just waiting for the inevitable complete collapse of the Catholic church. This reminds me of almost every other last-ditch effort I have ever seen. I am just waiting for governments to get wise and kick start the collapse by taxing these land owners with their self-serving wealth. The only tragic part of the whole thing are the YOUNG people on YouTube- some are naive enough to believe this Catholic **** and their kind of brainwashing.
7. Christian of the one true Church | 01.24.09
@ Idaho Bob: Josheph Ratzinger was a very unwilling member of the Hitler Youth - because it was compulsory to join - who deserted neer the end of the war.
@ Mike: Why do you think lifting an excommunication means the Pope agrees with the holocaust denier? He needs salvation too. Do you think he should just be locked out of the Church forever? That’s most unchristian.
@ Mike J: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter (Rock); and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.”
There is no salvation outside the Church.
9. Joseph | 01.25.09
As Catholics,we need to defend the CHURCH in order to gain victory over those who shamelessly campaign against the LAWS of the MOST HIGH for the cause of what they called HUMAN RIGHTS.
But Human & Rights are different terms and therefore each one of them should be understood meaningfully with different meaning.
Why shouldn,t we,the future popes, learn from POPE BENEDICT to manage our time?
10. Ron | 01.25.09
i would like to also mention that the person he reinstated is not a holocaust denier in the true sense. he said that gas chambers didn’t exist in the numbers people said they did, which is still dumb but not as bad as being like Iran’s head man. also that has nothing to do with an excommunication
11. Lloyd Baltazar | 01.30.09
HOW CAN YOU DESTROY THE HOLY CHURCH THAT JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF STARTED? AND WHERE SAINT PETER WAS THE FIRST POPE?
Some people here dont have the brain to realize the fact that the Pope is the one and only Vicar of Christ, he is the Prince of Apostles, and represents Christ on Earth.
To say or even imply that the Roman Catholic Church will “inevitably” crumble and dwindle is not just stupid, its plain IDIOTIC. It’s survived for 2,000 years, and it will survive even throughout these poor sinners lives.
Look at all these new-found, protestant churches and denominations… they have no unity, and they have no common universality of morals. They all differ on many moral issues. But the Catholic church stands strong as heresies and sinners come and go throughout history.
JESUS CHRIST STARTED THE HOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND SAINT PETER IS THE FIRST POPE. THERE IS NO SALVATION OUTSIDE THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. NONE. It is the superior religion in the world, and all protestants should be excommunicated by the Pope—-INCLUDING OBAMA for being pro-choice.
12. Bitesdadust | 02.04.09
A very wise sage said of the Catholic Church. In each century there are those who predict its immanent demise. The century itself buries them — yes Mike and that’s coming to you!“There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church— which is, of course, quite a different thing.” The Promise of Jesus Christ is that, despite its failings, the Catholic Church is NOT about to fall, now or in the near future.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Rail Grisanty | 01.24.09
When are we going to get in our heads the idea of separation of estate and church? Please, lets stop mixing politics with religion. Our constitution and Jesus say it.