P 261743Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1027
INFO AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY VATICAN

UNCLAS VATICAN 000009 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL ECPS PHUM VT PGOV KPAO
SUBJECT: NEW MEDIA, ETERNAL MESSAGE: THE HOLY SEE AND THE WEB 
 
REF: 08 VATICAN 0083 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Pope Benedict XVI is now on YouTube.  This new 
channel, the result of collaboration between the Vatican and 
Google, is the Holy See's latest foray into the world of new 
media.  Concerns persist at the Holy See over the digital divide 
and web content, but the Vatican's commitment to new media seems 
destined to grow even as the message it disseminates is likely 
to remain more traditional.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) At a well-attended press conference on January 23, the 
Holy See unveiled a new YouTube channel (available at HYPERLINK 
"http://www.youtube.com/vatican"www.youtube.c om/vatican) which 
hosts material - such as the Pope's speeches and appearances - 
supplied by the Vatican Television Center and Vatican Radio. 
Additional videos produced by the semi-official H20 news agency 
will also be available.  Currently, programming is offered in 
English, German, Italian, and Spanish, but not -- as 
participants pointed out at the press conference -- in French. 
There is no advertising on the site, and the Holy See paid no 
fee to Google for hosting the site. 
 
¶3.  (U) The move recognizes the fact that, as the Pope noted, 
the Catholic Church cannot be absent from "the areas in which 
countless young people surf seeking answers and a meaning for 
their life."  Earlier Vatican efforts to connect with the 
digital generation included the use of SMS messages sent on 
behalf of Pope Benedict to young believers during Papal trips to 
Australia and France.  There is no word yet on a Papal 
blackberry.  The Holy Father did receive an iPod as a gift from 
his staff last year (no word from the papal household on whether 
he uses it to listen to his beloved Mozart, though). 
 
¶4.  (U) Nor is Pope Benedict alone. Many individual members of 
the Catholic hierarchy use the internet to reach new audiences. 
Cardinal O'Malley in Boston has his own blog (HYPERLINK 
"http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/"www.cardin alseansblog.org/), 
Cardinals George (Chicago), Rigali (Philadelphia), and Zen (Hong 
Kong) have all recorded YouTube clips, and Cardinal Sepe in 
Naples, Italy, is a member of Facebook.  He has already reached 
the maximum allowable number of friends (5000), and recently 
invited his online friends to an in-person meeting. 
 
¶5.  (U) The Vatican's has not, however, embraced these new 
technologies without reservation.  The Pope emphasizes the need 
for the digital world to be truly open to all, and warns that 
technology could further isolate those "already economically and 
socially marginalized."  He also states that new media should 
avoid using words or images  that debase or degrade people (such 
as pornography), and that "virtual connectedness" should not 
come at the expense of "real social interaction." 
 
¶6.  (U) Comment:  The Vatican's recent embrace of new means of 
communication, together with its highly publicized forays into 
green technologies like solar panels for the papal audience 
hall, has softened its image as a tradition bound institution. 
By seizing new ways to communicate on faith with the broader 
world, the Vatican will be able to reach out to larger 
communities of Catholics - even though Catholicism is growing 
most quickly in nations with less digital connectivity.  The 
message the Church is conveying to these faithful, however, will 
remain traditional and occasionally controversial (for example, 
the Holy See's decision to reinstate a highly traditionalist 
Catholic group reported on septel).  End comment. 
 
NOYES