VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican is honoring the Church’s newest blessed with a Web page that retraces some of the most significant moments of Pope John Paul II’s history and his pontificate.
The Vatican launched the page honoring John Paul II in the lead-up to his beatification Sunday.
The page has 500 photographs and 30 videos, arranged by topics including statistics, his prayers, and biographical information. Each section is a “booklet” of images to flip through online.
The site will also have live-streaming of the beatification.
The page has been developed for smart phones and the iPad as well as computers.
This site accompanies an earlier Vatican multimedia initiative, “Digital Sentinels,” which was launched April 5.
Father Watler Insero, the director of the Social Communications Office of the Vicariate of Rome, said Friday that Digital Sentinels “has had an excellent reception.”
“Almost 1,000 people […] will follow our live Twitter feed and more than 3,000 people on Facebook are populating our Sentinel groups,” he said. “Also, thanks to the new Pope2You service, almost 40,000 e-cards have been sent with quotes addressed by John Paul II to youth.”
Lay legacy
The Pontifical Council for the Laity also launched a new official Web site today.
“We feel that the fact of entering the Web site in a new way on the eve of the beatification of John Paul II is a tribute to the great Pope who gave such immense impetus to the lay apostolate and the new era of associations of the faithful,” a statement from the dicastery said.
The Web site recalls John Paul II as the one who instituted World Youth Day, “who was aware of the ‘feminine genius’ and was attentive to all areas in which the laity are called to witness to Christ.”
“As Cardinal Wojtyła he was a consultor of the Consilium de Laicis, which later became the Pontifical Council for the Laity,” the statement added. “We would like to remember him with this new Web site and his important presence in the history and development of the dicastery.”
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On the Net:
Vatican homage to John Paul II: www.johnpaulii.va/en
Pontifical Council for the Laity: www.laici.va/content/laici/en/news/new_website.html
Digital Sentinels: www.pope2you.net/index.php?id_testi=61
Twitter page: http://twitter.com/#!/Pope2YouVatican
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/#!/vatican.johnpaul2
Pope2You: http://pope2you.net
