Pope Francis described the Internet on Thursday as “a gift from God” and called on Catholics to “boldly become citizens of the digital world”.
“The internet… offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God,” the Argentine pontiff said in his first World Communication Day message, given annual by the pope.
“Let us boldly become citizens of the digital world. Let our communication be a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens hearts,” he said.
The 77-year-old pontiff is a keen Twitter user whose account has attracted more than 10 million followers.
But he also makes a point of privileging human relationships and physical touch, often walking among the crowds who flock to see him in St. Peter’s Square and embracing the ill or disabled.
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| Bishops take pictures of Pope Francis with mobile phones at the Archbishop’s Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
“Those ‘streets’ are the world where people live and where they can be reached, both effectively and affectively. The digital highway is one of them, a street teeming with people who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope,” he added.
However, Francis warned people not allow the desire to be connected to the digital world twenty-four hours a day to isolate them from society.
“It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply ‘connected’. Connections need to grow into true encounters,” he said.
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Is the internet truly a gift from God. Another Pope would have been skeptical given the power of the internet to centralize control by clustering humanity into one Village. Will the Beast as foreseen by John in the Revealations he had from God control humanity through the internet? How long before the microchip technology subjects humankind under the Mark of the Beast? I fear; genuinely.
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