Benedict XVI and the Transmission of Faith in the Digital Age

Alessandro Gisotti Summary of Katharina Agurelios

It is unanimously recognized that he was a great theologian, but Joseph Ratzinger was also an important interlocutor. As a theologian, he has shown that even topics of a high intellectual level can be expounded upon and accessible to a wider audience than just specialists. success with him Introduction to ChristianityRatzinger, who to this day more than 50 years after his publication is a worldwide bestseller of a religious nature, demonstrates Ratzinger’s innate ability to expound faith in Jesus Christ and do so with clear arguments and brilliant, persuasive language. The same can be said of the trilogy Jesus of Nazaretha work that Joseph Ratzinger did his best and managed to finish before he left despite the difficulty of running the Universal Church.

Benedict XVI did not lack the measures and the courage to “take risks” in the vast field of communication. He was the first pope to meet victims of sexual abuse committed by priests – an act of great communicative importance that Ratzinger put listening at the center and led to the Protection of Minors Summit in February 2019. Despite media criticism of some of his decisions, Benedict XVI has always had a positive attitude towards the world of information. From the conversation with German journalist Peter Seewald that resulted Light of the world, a book covering all the most sensitive issues of his papacy, to touch upon the subject of resignation. He was also the first pope to send a text message (to young people on World Youth Day in Sydney), chat with astronauts and answer questions. in a financial times About the commitment of Christians in today’s world.

Above all, Benedict XVI is the first pope to address social networks in the digital world – five of his eight messages for World Days of Social Communication deal with this. He immediately discovered the meaning of the social media revolution, not as a means of use, but as an environment in which to live. He coined the expression “digital continent” and equated social networks with a geographic continent, a missionary domain, where the commitment of believers to evangelism is required. Benedict XVI also recognized that the separation between the real and the virtual must be overcome, because what is shared and commented on on new platforms has tangible consequences for people’s lives.

Benedict XVI encouraged Christians to be greater digital witnesses than influencers and to turn the social network into “gateways to truth and faith.” He moved from saying to doing. On December 12, 2012, the Pope posted a tweet for the first time on his @Pontifex account. It was an act that some have likened to Pius XI’s founding of Vatican Radio. Not everyone liked it for fear that the Pope would be criticized and insulted, but he was convinced of his choice, which walked in the direction of a new evangelization. Once again, the Pope knew how to take advantage of the potential of technological innovations to reach people who would otherwise remain excluded from evangelization. A few weeks after he opened his Twitter account, he resigned from his papal teaching office, but Pope Francis reactivated @Pontifex and today he has more than 50 million followers in 9 languages. Benedict XVI communicated during his eight years in the papacy with creativity and courage in the most diverse languages, and for about 10 years as Pope Emeritus his communications took another form, which was invisible but no less effective: silence and prayer.