Jesus expressed the faith in small 'tweets,' Card Ravasi

November 16, 2012 - A Vatican official urged Catholics to share the Gospel in a concise and eloquent way like Jesus, “who used only 78 Greek characters to express the faith, barely half of the amount used for a message on Twitter today.” Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, made the remark on Nov. 9, as he received a honorary doctorate in Sacred Theology from Rome’s Lateran Pontifical University in recognition of his pastoral work. He said, “The proclamation needs to be made with the same essence as Christ who in his first public intervention used a sort of essential 'tweet:' 'This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.'” “A phrase in Greek that has a total of eight words, and that without articles and conjugations would include a total of fifteen terms in 78 character,” he explained. During the event, Cardinal Ravasi also delivered a speech titled, “Education and Communication: How to Grow in Faith at the University,” in which he analyzed education from the point of view of communication and content. “Communication should be an atmosphere, and because of it, the message of Jesus Christ has reached our days two thousand years later,” he said.