Pope offers less time in purgatory for social media activity

[littlefieldjohn]

Pope to offer ‘indulgences’ to his Twitter followers

In its latest effort to take part in the social media conversation, the Vatican has announced it will offer “indulgences” to virtual followers of Pope Francis, better known on Twitter as @Pontifex.

For the first time, and ahead of the pope’s trip to Brazil, the Vatican has opened up access to the Pope’s indulgences to Catholic users of the micro-messaging network, as well as those who see him in person.

For Catholics, an indulgence is a remission of temporal punishment due to sin. In essense a step towards purification, indulgences are usually granted in exchange for prayers or good works. The Church's salvation is only granted by having grave sins absolved, customarilly through the sacrament of Confession.

The wider social media strategy

According to UK daily The Guardian, a senior Vatican official warned web-surfing Catholics that indulgences still required a dose of old-fashioned faith, and that heaven was not just a few clicks away.

“You can’t obtain indulgences like getting a coffee from a vending machine,” Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the pontifical council for social communication, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130718-...tter-followers

[Leonard Rouse]

In other news, Martin Luther XXV decried the Poop's Twitter indulgences, one grievance among many posted to Luther's Facebook page.

[M.N. Dalvez]

Luther's male-line descendant has a Facebook page?!?! Now the list of things which I've heard contains everything.

What is it?

Is there a non-FB feed for it?

[George Witzgall]

Originally Posted by M.N. Dalvez

Luther's male-line descendant has a Facebook page?!?! Now the list of things which I've heard contains everything.

What is it?

Is there a non-FB feed for it?

[M.N. Dalvez]

Oh... I get it.

-sigh-

Give me a break - this Internet malarkey is still pretty new to me. I'm an old man!

(well, that's my usual excuse when I don't 'get the joke'.)

Pardon my rude comment ...