A meeting for bloggers will take place in Rome on the afternoon of Monday 2 May 2011.
The aim of the meeting, which is being organised by the Pontifical Councils for Culture
and Social Communications, is to allow for a dialogue between bloggers and Church
representatives, to listen to the experiences of those who are actively involved in
this arena, and to achieve a greater understanding of the needs of that community.
The meeting will also allow for a presentation of some of the initiatives to engage
with new media practitioners being taken by the Church, both in Rome and at the local
level.
In two panels, speakers will open up some of the key issues in
order to set up a more general discussion open to all participants. The first panel
will involve 5 bloggers – they will be chosen to represent different language groups
and each will address a specific theme of general relevance. The second panel will
draw on people involved in the Church’s communications outreach – they will speak
of their experiences in working with new media and initiatives aimed at ensuring an
effective engagement by the Church with bloggers.
Among those participating
at the meeting will be Cardinal Ravasi of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Archbishop
Celli of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and Father Lombardi of the
Vatican’s Press Office and Vatican Radio. An important dimension of the meeting is
to allow an opportunity for informal exchange and contact between those attending
with a view to opening further avenues of interaction.
The meeting is taking
place on the day after the Beatification of Pope John Paul II in order to take advantage
of the likely presence in Rome of many bloggers. The invitation is open to all, but
bloggers who wish to attend need to apply by emailing and sending a link to their
blog. As space is limited to 150 seats and there is a desire to have a representation
of the entire blogosphere, entrance passes and further details will be distributed
with a view to the diversity of language and geography, typology of blogs (institutional
or private, multivoice or personal), subjects of blogs, and timeliness of request.
Simultaneous
translation will be provided for Italian, English, French, Polish and Spanish.
The
venue is the Palazzo San Pio X, in via della Conciliazione, 5.