With the tap of his finger on a tablet screen, Pope Francis remotely illuminated the Mount Ingino Christmas tree, some 200 kilometers away from Vatican City State this weekend. For the 77-year-old head of a 2,000-year-old religion in the digital age, it's a calculated beat in his active but cautious strategy for online communications.
Francis, like his predecessor Benedict XVI in 2011, spoke by video link to those gathered for the tree lighting that takes place annually in the Italian town of Gubbio on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Video messages, like his famous surprise phone calls, fall within Francis' digital comfort zone because they extend his presence to everyday people.
"Media can help us to feel closer to one another," Francis said on World Communications Day earlier this year. "The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity."
Just days ago, Francis released his first video message via Twitter. Sitting at a wooden table, he tells Iraqi Christians suffering from persecution that he wishes he could be with them in person, but since he can't travel there, he's with them this way. He says he knows they are suffering. Another example of his approach was his amateurish video message, recorded hastily on an iPhone belonging to his friend Tony Palmer, an Evangelical pastor, to show support for a Pentecostal conference in the U.S. earlier this year.
Francis does not mask himself through the Internet, he hasn't set about creating a "brand" - to borrow a marketing term - and he's not out to create a false sense of accessibility which is the point of celebrity Twitter accounts.
His strategy regarding the digital world is merely to get closer to people in need and, to that end, he's shunned the wider smorgasbord of online platforms that have come to define Western culture.
Francis rarely publishes anything tailored specifically for Internet, except for some occasional Tweets. He doesn't Instagram, curate a Pinterest board or conduct instant message Q & A sessions. If the pope's goal was to be entertaining he could easily do so, but I think it's safe to say he never will. He's cautious and has warned against communication that's "aimed at consumption or manipulation." He is wary that the speed of the medium should not "exceed our capacity for reflection and judgment."
Ultimately, Pope Francis' guide for Internet communications, he says, is a principle of "neighborliness."
He compares the Internet to the world's streets, calling it a "digital highway" and "a street teeming with people who are often hurting." And in line with his faith and mission he has said that it is not enough to be a passerby on this highway. Connections, he believes, must develop into encounters of love - and the networks must connect people, not just servers.
Kathryn Elliott covers the Vatican, Pope Francis and all things related to the Catholic Church for HNGN. She is a producer for EWTN News Nightly, an international cable news show airing weeknights at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST on the Global Catholic Television Network. Kathryn has reported for the National Catholic Register, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Catholic Spirit, The Minnesota Daily and The Word Among Us Magazine. She has a BA in professional journalism from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Kathryn lives in Washington D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @kmelliott90.
