Pope: Twitter, Social Networks Are Opportunities for Catholics to Win Converts

The pope is urging the faithful to use Twitter to evangelize.

"Believers are increasingly aware that, unless the Good News is made known also in the digital world, it may be absent in the experience of many people for whom this existential space is important," wrote Pope Benedict XVI in a statement released on the Vatican website.

"The digital environment is not a parallel or purely virtual world, but is part of the daily experience of many people, especially the young. Social networks are the result of human interaction, but for their part they also reshape the dynamics of communication which builds relationships: a considered understanding of this environment is therefore the prerequisite for a significant presence there," he said.

The pope mused on social networks and their content, and the responsibility he said Catholics have to use those networks wisely.

"The exchange of information can become true communication, links ripen into friendships, and connections facilitate communion," he said. "If the networks are called to realize this great potential, the people involved in them must make an effort to be authentic since, in these spaces, it is not only ideas and information that are shared, but ultimately our very selves."

The pope himself recently got in on the Twitter action, sending out his first tweet from the handle @pontifex on Dec. 12. He continues to share his thoughts, as well as his opinions on current events and issues he feels are affecting the church.

While he has mostly shared relatively banal platitudes and aphorisms, he does occasionally mention political upheavals. "Please join me in praying for Syria, so that constructive dialogue will replace the horrendous violence," he tweeted on Jan. 7.

Later that day, he tweeted, "Nigerians have a special place in my heart, as so many have been victims of senseless violence in recent months.

And last week, during a March for Life in Washington, D.C. held by anti-abortion protesters to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the pope tweeted, "I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life."