Facebook, Wikipedia executives brief Vatican on Web

(November 13, 2009) Vatican officials and Catholic bishops are getting a lesson on the Internet from Facebook, Wikipedia and Google executives as the church struggles to get its message out in the digital age. A four-day symposium that opened in the Vatican on Thursday is being hosted by the European bishop's media commission and is designed to delve into questions about what Internet culture means for the church's mission and how the church communicates that mission to others. Pope Benedict XVI has tried to bring the Vatican into the Internet age and launched a YouTube channel earlier this year. Officials say he also e-mails and surfs the Web. During the symposium, panels will discuss social networks, the Web generation, the church's communication strategies, and whether the Internet is changing religious practices. In many ways, the Internet is just the latest means that the Vatican has used to spread its message, starting with parchment, printing press, radio and television. Pope John Paul II used mass media and information technology to get out his message, overseeing the 1995 launch of the Vatican's Web site, www.vatican.va, which today includes virtual tours of the Vatican Museums and audio feeds from Vatican Radio.