- Title: A broadband church? Vatican expert urges priests to get online
- Date: 6th November 2018
- Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (NOVEMBER 6, 2018) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ALTICE ARENA WHERE WEB SUMMIT IS TAKING PLACE WEB SUMMIT LOGO PARTICIPANTS PASSING BY WEB SUMMIT LOGO VARIOUS OF PARTICIPANTS WALKING TOWARDS WEB SUMMIT ENTRANCE PARTICIPANTS PASSING BY STANDS MAN DRESSED AS ENGLISH GUARD IN FRONT OF STAND SIGN READING (English) "TECHNOLOGY IS GREAT" MAN DRESSED AS ENGLISH GUARD IN FRONT OF STAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) WEB SUMMIT CHIEF MARKETING TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, MIKE SEXTON, SAYING: "Web Summit cover a wide range of topics really, I think one of the things that we saw in the evening night was the intersection of technology and society I think that's the question that's all over the tech sector at the moment is, what is the impact of technology in society? I think for a long time it was assumed that the impact was uniformly positive but I think in the last couple of years we've seen it's, maybe has a more nuanced or a more complex relationship with society and I think that's a topic that's on stage a lot for us this year." VARIOUS OF STANDS PAUL TIGHE, VATICAN SECRETARY OF THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR CULTURE, DURING INTERVIEW RELIGIOUS CROSS (SOUNDBITE) (English) VATICAN SECRETARY OF THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR CULTURE, PAUL TIGHE, SAYING: "We do recognise of course there is the danger that sometimes on social media we are only talking to ourselves, we are only finding people who agree with us, and one of the things we are trying encourage is for people to see in social media the possibility of actually meeting and encountering, that is meeting at a deeper level, people who are maybe quite different from themselves. And Pope Francis has this huge commitment where he says "we have to build a culture of encounter, a culture where people coming from different backgrounds, coming from different economic possibilities, coming from different races learn to discover their common humanity and respect one another." VARIOUS OF STANDS
- Embargoed: 20th November 2018 17:40
- Keywords: tech technology council culture Vatican religion Pontifical Portugal Pope Francis web summit
- Location: LISBON, PORTUGAL
- City: LISBON, PORTUGAL
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA00195DCIA5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Priests should get online if they want to connect with people who may no longer attend church but can still be reached via social media, the Vatican's digital expert said on Tuesday (November 6).
Monsignor Paul Tighe, who helped develop Pope Francis' online presence, urged Catholic clergy across the world to embrace social media to reach believers and non-believers.
"Young people are, unfortunately, less present in our churches," Tighe, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, told Reuters on Tuesday at a technology conference in Lisbon.
Pope Francis has nearly 18 million Twitter followers and his posts are widely shared, but not all church leaders are following his example, Tighe said.
"In the beginning, some Catholics said social media was nasty and that we should stay out of it," he said.
"We have been trying to convince them that the digital arena is a hugely significant part of people's lives."
It was the Irish bishop's second year at the annual Web Summit - Europe's biggest technology conference, which this year brought together 70,000 entrepreneurs and guests including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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