Pope Benedict releases app, World Communications Day message

With more than 1.4 million Twitter followers on his English account alone, "The Pope App" released on Wednesday and a World Communications Day message focused on social networks, Pope Benedict XVI is diving into the world of social media. Social networks are, as the pope said at the press conference, the "new spaces for evangelization."

The new app provides live streaming of papal events, news, quotes and more. It is currently available for iPhone and iPad users in five languages and will be available for Android users in February. You can learn more about the Pope App here. 

The app was launched on the eve of today's release of Pope Benedict's World Communications Day messaged, themed "Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization."

From Pope Benedict:

As the 2013 World Communications Day draws near, I would like to offer you some reflections on an increasingly important reality regarding the way in which people today communicate among themselves. I wish to consider the development of digital social networks which are helping to create a new “agora”, an open public square in which people share ideas, information and opinions, and in which new relationships and forms of community can come into being.

These spaces, when engaged in a wise and balanced way, help to foster forms of dialogue and debate which, if conducted respectfully and with concern for privacy, responsibility and truthfulness, can reinforce the bonds of unity between individuals and effectively promote the harmony of the human family. The exchange of information can become true communication, links ripen into friendships, and connections facilitate communion. 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 development of social networks calls for commitment: people are engaged in building relationships and making friends, in looking for answers to their questions and being entertained, but also in finding intellectual stimulation and sharing knowledge and know-how. The networks are increasingly becoming part of the very fabric of society, inasmuch as they bring people together on the basis of these fundamental needs. Social networks are thus nourished by aspirations rooted in the human heart.

Read Pope Benedict's entire World Communications Day message.