The Second Coming Of Vatican Social Media

The faithful will now be able to keep up with the Catholic Church's news and opinions via Facebook and Twitter.

The Vatican has announced the launch of a social media-integrated official news website, news.va, that will make heavy use of those social networks. Reports say it'll be introduced to the public with a click of a mouse by Pope Benedict XVI himself. Although several Vatican-related entities, such as the Vatican Museums and the official L'Osservatore Romano newspaper, have well-trafficked websites, the Curia has been timid about the use of new technologies. News.va will function essentially as a Vatican and Catholic Church-related news aggregator. The site, which will initially publish stories in only English and Italian, will republish stories from L'Osservatore Romano, Vatican Radio, Vatican Television, the Fides news agency and from Vatican media relations. Livestreaming of Papal events will also be featured, along with links to homilies, statements, and speeches. Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese-language versions of the site will reportedly be launched over the next few months. News.va will be stripped down, with navigation primarily centered on social media. Users won't be able to search through news archives, but they will be able to post links on Twitter and share stories on their Facebook walls. The Catholic Church, in the eyes of many observers, has had a severe public-relations problem in past years that's been exacerbated by clumsy interaction with the media.