The second session of the Vatican blogger conference is opened by Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ and speaks of the objectives of this blogger meeting , namely: the dialogue between faith and emerging cultures. The blogger community are called to the meeting so that 'the Vatican' can listen and indeed learn.
Fr Federico Lombardi SJ addresses the meeting. He is well known internationally as the director of the Holy See press office. He notes that he does not use blogs himself but is surprised by the energy generated by the Catholic blogging community. He says that the mission of the Vatican is to open up to a dailogue to all those who want to open up to communication. He speaks of Pope Benedict and says the Holy Father understands well what is happening in the blogging world and wants to encourage this. The Holy Father is open minded to all forms of communication.
Fr Lombardi says bloggers are important for the church, and that the church should have a public opinion - a dialogue between faith and the world. Blogs can particiapte in this new dimension or reality. A second observation relates to connectivity - the Vatican getting its message from the core outwards without having any real feedback. Blogs can contribute to a greater dialogue. Thirdly, the question of monitoring. He notes that the Holy See interacts with bloggers by keeping up to date with news, trends and events and monitors blogs regularly. Fr Federico thanked bloggers for helping clarify the Church's message, especially when the truth is sometimes misconstrued. (By the way, some of the participants at the meeting, by means of twitter, disagree with Fr Lombardi, saying that the church has missed the point of 'social' communication.)
There will be one further and final update.
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