QUAERITUR: Whither Papal Tweets?

14 Comments

1. Supertradmum says:

   13 December 2012 at 7:43 AM

   Epistolae ad vocem volucris?
2. Supertradmum says:

   13 December 2012 at 7:51 AM

   On an aside, Robert Hugh Benson in his magnificent Lord of the World, which I have read three times in eleven months, uses the same root for “winged creatures” to make his word, “volors”, I would guess.
3. norancor says:

   13 December 2012 at 8:16 AM

   As a priest friend opined, “the same time that his three book series is published in the AAS and with the same theological note.” My priest friend is mildly concerned about the precedent of the last two pontiffs offering up books with a theological dimension, because it brings up this very issue.
4. fvhale says:

   13 December 2012 at 9:29 AM

   At least they will not require many pages.

   On a tangential note, I am so glad that someone jotted down (or perhaps a journalist recorded?) the impromptu words of Bl. Pope John XXIII at the window when he spoke to the crowed below in St. Peter’s late at night after the opening day of the Second Vatican Council, and the words now appear in Acta Synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II, vol. I, Pars I, Sessio Publica I, pp. 202-203. It still brings tears to my eyes when I read, “Tornando a casa troverete i bambini; date loro una carezza e dite: questa e la carezza del Papa….”
   This also ended up, I believe, in AAS 54 (1962), pp. 820-821.

   So I am confident that the papal tweet will be appropriately recorded.

   Of course, now that they are out on the internet, they may last longer an be more easily accessed than any print on paper or inscription in stone.
5. MichaelJ says:

   13 December 2012 at 11:33 AM

   norancor,
   yet another reason to think that His Holiness’ “tweeting” is a bad idea. I seems clear, to me at least, that His Holiness does not intend to use twitter to support his role as the Vicar of Christ, but instead intends it to support his role as a private theologan .
   Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. Any Catholic should desire to explain and teach the Faith more fully, but it does bring up some bothersome questions.
   When acting as the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict’s pronouncements are guaranteed to be free from error by the Holy Ghost. When acting as a private theologan, true as they may be, there is no such guarantee. Why on earth would he want to forsake such help?
6. Suburbanbanshee says:

   13 December 2012 at 5:36 PM

   Popes have both an office, in which they are Peter, and a soul, which it is their own business to save. So why shouldn’t the popes write books? St. Gregory the Great didn’t stop just because he was made Pope.

   Or to put it another way, the good Lord doesn’t give infallible help to the Pope to wipe his butt, and yet the popes have all been trusted by Him to find the bathroom and do their thing.
7. catholicmidwest says:

   13 December 2012 at 10:02 PM

   The problem isn’t what the pope will say or write. Rather, it’s all the things that many, many people, some of them pretty un-um-prepared to think about what he writes will make of the differences between the two modes of writing. I can see it 100 years from now — the ultra-ultra-trads vs the PBXVI Society, taking pot shots at each other over some form of social media not yet invented. : /
8. Dismas says:

   14 December 2012 at 6:34 AM

   Wither Papal Tweets? My first thought was that papal tweets may not be a good idea until I read, this morning, our Holy Father’s address to ambassadors on Education. It seems to answer for me the need of the Holy Fathers presence on twitter.

   http://www.visnews-en.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-pope-emphasises-importance-of.html

   In his address to the diplomats, the Pope focused on the theme of education, one of the principal challenges of our times and which today is located “in a context in which the evolution of ways of life and forms of knowledge create human, cultural, social and spiritual ruptures hitherto unknown in the history of humanity”.

   The hitherto unknown in history statement is striking, I would love to see this premise developed more clearly in some doctoral dissertations. It’s something I perceive but don’t have the intellect to properly identify or articulate.

   At any rate, good or bad, I’m now grateful for our Holy Father’s newest presence of @pontifex.
9. Dismas says:

   14 December 2012 at 6:36 AM

   Whoops, didn’t mean for that all to be bolded, that’s what I get for messing with HTML.
10. The Masked Chicken says:

    14 December 2012 at 7:20 AM

    “in a context in which the evolution of ways of life and forms of knowledge create human, cultural, social and spiritual ruptures hitherto unknown in the history of humanity”

    Could it not be the Twitter is a part of that trend?

    The Chicken
11. Dismas says:

    14 December 2012 at 8:12 AM

    @Masked Chicken, I know not if Twitter could be a part of ‘ruptures hitherto unknown in the history of humanity’ but suspect this is why I initially perceived the Holy Fathers presence there a bad idea. Since Twitter and other forms of new media show no signs of going away anytime soon, and may be a rupture hitherto unknown, I’m now greatful for the Holy Fathers presence and don’t necessarily view it as only endorsement or a bad idea.
12. The Masked Chicken says:

    14 December 2012 at 8:28 AM

    Twitter is a flash-in-the-pan technology. It is on the cusp of the rupture. Communication, in but a few years, will bear no resemblance to what we have known in the past. Think, brain-neural interfaces.

    See my new long comment on the earlier Twitter post. I am not an atavist, but technology is progressing faster than our moral and ethical considerations can handle and I fear for the warping of a humanity that can barely rise above Original Sin.

    The Chicken
13. Dismas says:

    14 December 2012 at 10:10 AM

    I think for the most part we largely agree although I’m definately not as adamantly decided or convinced. Where you say ‘flash-in-the-pan’ I say only time will tell. I’m striving to ” Think, brain-neural interfaces”, however regarding my thought, I am still much more subject to synaptic misfire.
14. avecrux says:

    15 December 2012 at 9:28 AM

    Masked Chicken –
    I saw your very thoughtful post on the prior thread – and I agree with you. Where we disagree, I suspect, is that I see it as useful to enter into the world “on the cusp” of rupture in order to drag folks out. If I’m reading you correctly, however, any use of that medium is participation in the problem itself. I’m unconvinced.

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