The Vatican Goes YouTube!

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The Vatican, on January 23, 2009, has officially launched a video channel on the YouTube which will show video news clips on Pope Benedict XVI's activities and important Vatican events in Italian, English, Spanish and German, reports the Catholic News Service (CNS). The Pope's message for the 43rd World Communication Day has been broadcast through the YouTube.

The Vatican Television Centre and Vatican Radio had been preparing and sharing short video clips on the Vatican Radio website. Now they will share these on the YouTube in partnership with the Internet giant, Google, the owner of the YouTube.

The YouTube, which has over 70 million monthly viewers, will be a strong vehicle for the Vatican and Pope to project their news and views to the world that is eager to know about God. Google Managing Director Henrique de Castro said that more people search on Google for "God" than for many famous world figures and celebrities.

Vatican's YouTube Channel

The short video clips of the Pope or significant Vatican events will be available at http://www.youtube.com/vatican The CNS reports that viewers will be able to leave comments, distribute the videos by e-mailing or messaging the links, and share the videos with friends on various social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, as well as submit the Vatican video links to news aggregator sites like Digg.

World Communication Day Message of the Pope

In his long World Communication Day message, Pope Benedict XVI called upon the youth, the users of new technologies of the digital age, to use their computers, Facebook and YouTube accounts, and blogs for sharing the joy of their faith in Christ with their peers, reports CNS. The theme of the Communication Day was: "New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialog and Friendship."

The Pope also said that people must "avoid the sharing of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality or that exploit the weak and vulnerable."

"When we find ourselves drawn toward other people, when we want to know more about them and make ourselves known to them, we are responding to God's call -- a call that is imprinted in our nature as beings created in the image and likeness of God, the God of communication and communion," the Pope mentioned.

This year's World Communication Day will be officially observed in the Catholic Church on May 31.