The New Pope Has His Own App

Tech savvy Catholics now have an app to track the latest news from the Vatican and the newly elected Pope Francis.

Published

2 months ago

Categories

Arts & Society, Technology

Topics

Religion & Spirituality, Apps

People

Pope Francis I

Places

Vatican City

Transcript

While the age-old catholic church procedure of white smoke announced the election of a new pope, tech-savvy Catholics could follow the events at Vatican City in real time on their mobile devices. "The Pope App" released last month by the Pontifical Council on Social Communications allows users to keep tabs on the pope's latest activities. Peter Williams of the UK's Catholic Voices is a fan. SOUNDBITE: CATHOLIC WRITER AND SPEAKER FOR CATHOLIC VOICES, PETER D. WILLIAMS, SAYING (English) "I think it will build excitement simply because it will allow people to see what's going on with the papacy what the pope's saying, where he's going, what he's doing and also to see what kind of things the papacy does. I think it's an institution shrouded in mystery for many people, so maybe this will allow them to see exactly what goes on." In London, the first reactions to the app were mixed. SOUNDBITE: NICK ELLIOTT, SAYING (English) "I think it's fantastic, I think it's a step forward, definitely. SOUNDBITE: ADAM SKEET, SAYING (English) "Well at the end of the day, everyone is using apps and things to promote what they want nowadays, so it's a clever way of moving forwards." SOUNDBITE: HELEN NICHOLSON SAYING (English) "I think it's getting too modernized. They haven't updated their ideas and stuff, but they're willing to update their technology and stuff, so..." This push towards modern technology was initiated by the previous pontiff who had his own twitter feed. And now it's up to freshly elected Pope Francis to expand the church's presence on social media.