The Pope & The Media...

In the beginning, Vatican news was reported by special courier... like the chap who brought news that John Fisher was to be made Cardinal, upsetting Henry VIII so much that the king declared he would ensure that Fisher would not have a head upon which to set his new red hat.

Then came newsprint and radio... and even television. This was good, but only if you lived in Italy or had very strong radio reception...

Next came the Vatican website. Great for archive stuff. This was good. The Bollettino even gets updated each day... unfortunately, unless you speak Italian, it's not so good... However, you can now access newsprint, radio and television without living in Italy, which is good...

Then came the Vatican You Tube channel... and finally, the Pope is on Facebook! Unfortunately, the Holy Father will not, I suspect, be adding me to his list of friends. I will, however, be able to send picture postcards with snippets of the Pope's speeches.

And indeed, it was very good.

(Check out Pope2you for the 43rd World Communications Day on 24 May 2009... twitch of the mantilla to Jane for the reminder, although I read it somewhere else as well!)