From a papacy that clicks, prayer picks via video
Tech-savvy Francis expands his outreach
He tweets @Pontifex. He takes selfies. He even embraced Popemojis on his fall trip to the USA.
Add YouTube outreach, a prayer app, Facebook proselytizing and Instagram evangelism to the social media arsenal employed by tech-savvy Pope Francis.
Wednesday, the popular pontiff launched a video version of his monthly “prayer intentions,” a message for Catholics to keep in mind as they reach out to God in their daily and weekly prayers.
And — heavens above! — it’ll be available in 10 languages and on prettymuch every media platform you can think of.
In January, his call is “that sincere dialogue among men and women of different faiths may produce the fruits of peace and justice.”
The videos, produced with the help of the Vatican Television Center, are released through a Jesuit-run network called the Apostleship of Prayer. They’ll be featured on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and the phone app Click To Pray, with the pope reflecting on his monthly topic.
Three of Francis’ closest friends from Argentina are featured in January’s video: Muslim leader Omar Abboud, Rabbi Daniel Goldman and Guillermo Marco, a Catholic priest. Completing the lineup is a Buddhist lama, or teacher.
“In a world where everything pushes towards fragmentation, opposition and division, it’s more than ever necessary that religions and persons that hope for peace, brotherhood and solidarity mobilize together on common projects,” Frédéric Fornos, managing director of the pope’s Global Prayer Network, told CruxNow.com.
“The church has always used whatever communication was available,” said Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York. “After all, when the printing press came along, the Bible was the first thing that was printed.”