It's Official: "Blessed Are The Bloggers", Says The Catholic Herald. As Eccles Would Undoubtedly Say: "We Is Saved".

This Article, by Stephen Bullivant, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics, at Saint Mary's University, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, can be read in full at THE CATHOLIC HERALD

Labour of love. In London, alone,

there are hundreds of Bloggers.

Photo: ANDREW CROWLEY.

Illustration: THE TELEGRAPH

Illustration: AMDH ADVANCED VISION TO TECHNOLOGY

The Internet has brought a Golden Age of

evangelical opportunity. Atheists share the same soapbox

– but that should not deter us.

. . . That the Catholic Church, officially and (often much more successfully) unofficially, is so active Online, is perfectly natural. Pope Francis joining Instagram, like Benedict XVI joining Twitter, might prompt a collective raised-eye emoji from journalists.

But they might be reminded that the Vatican itself was an Internet pioneer: Its Web-Site launched in 1995, the same year as CNN’s, and two years before the BBC’s. (Incidentally, those who gripe at how antiquated the Vatican’s Web-Site feels – “so Web 1.0” – are shamelessly flaunting their age. They are clearly much too young to remember GeoCities sites with autoplaying midi soundtracks and a trail of stars following the cursor.) . . .