Lombardi Editorial: The Pope and Twitter

The Pope and Twitter

(Vatican Radio) The new tweeter came out on the digital continent to tweet. Some inhabitants on the continent said: “What is this intruder doing here? In this field we are the only ones who know what it is and how to tweet!”. And they made fun of him and turned their backs. Other inhabitants said: “Interesting and fun! Let’s see if he will have more followers than other VIPs, actors or footballers! And they made their considerations on the numbers, but they didn’t think of what the tweets were saying and after a while they lost interest. Others said: “Ok. There’s someone out there who wants to tell us things that they consider important for every one of us. We will all be watching to see and hear, and we will be happy to tweet back, to our friends who are searching like us”. And the tweets bore fruit and multiplied, by thirty, by sixty, percent… Those who have ears, may they hear.
140 characters – the number contained in a tweet – are quite a few. Most of the verses of the Gospel have less; the beatitudes are much shorter. A little concision isn’t bad. For centuries we have known that listening to the word of Jesus in the morning and bearing it in mind and heart supports the journey of a day… or of a life.
But we need to understand why this word is important, where it comes from and where it is going, in which context of life it finds its meaning. In short, a tweet doesn’t carry life alone and automatically. It might in fact meet with enthusiasm, but also refusal. The seed falls on stony ground or among the brambles of negative prejudices and suffocates, but it also falls on good and vacant land and so it bears fruit and multiplies.
Of course the world will not be saved by tweets but among a billion baptised Catholics and among the seven billion people of the world; several million people will be able to feel the Pope is closer in this way too, hearing him say a word for them, a spark of wisdom to bear in their minds and hearts and to share with their twitter friends. A new service of the Gospel.