Monday, June 9, 2014

The Catholic Church must establish a presence in the digital world of communications or risk being at the margins of people's lives, said the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. "If the church is not present and does not share the good news of God's love for all people in this world, then we risk becoming marginal to the lives of many and are failing our mission to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth," Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli told more than 250 people at the Brooklyn Diocese's annual celebration of World Communications Day. The May 22 event was organized by the DeSales Media Group, the parent company of The Tablet, the diocesan newspaper. Many dioceses mark World Communications Day June 1. This year's theme is "Communication at the service of an authentic culture of encounter." Before the archbishop's keynote address, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and Msgr. Kieran Harrington, president of DeSales, presented Archbishop Celli with the group's St. Francis de Sales Award. Archbishop Celli was honored for being instrumental in starting Pope Benedict XVI's Twitter account (@Pontifex), now handled by Pope Francis. He also oversaw the creation of the Pope App, which allows followers to receive updates regarding important papal events.