The Pope’s Savvy Stance On Social Networks

Pope Benedict this morning proclaimed that social network sites, which have been blamed for adultery  and  other ills of modern life, are not all bad.   The endorsement from the Holy Father may further bolster the popularity of the sites — as if they needed it.

The 82-year-old Benedict does not have his own Facebook page though there are several bearing his name.  In a message, the Pontiff argued that the websites show a “great opportunity” to do good though he pointed out — rightly so — the dangers of having more virtual friends than real ones.  This also presents an opportunity for the Catholic Church and other religions to reach out to the faithful.

For instance, Mass attendance has declined in the U.S. for years.  In traditionally Catholic Boston, which was at the epicenter of the priest sex abuse scandal, ” weekly Mass attendance has plunged from 376,383 in 2000 to 286,951 in 2009, according to the church’s annual count,” The Boston Globe says.  Overall, about 45% of Catholics attend Mass in the U.S., in line with Protestant churches.   Sixty years ago, that figure was around 75%.  Mass attendence also is down in Europe though there are reports that its picked up in Ireland whose economy has been savaged by rising levels of debt that has prompted to try to immigrate to find better job prospects.  Overall, there are more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide, with ranks of the faithful rising by 10.93% in the U.S.  between 2000 and 2008, according to the Vatican’s Statistical Yearbook of the Church.

The traditional role that religious institutions played in providing a sense of community has been usurped by social networks.   Facebook, alone, accounts for more than 70% of web traffic, according to E-marketer.   Many Facebook users collect “friends” the way that kids used to collect baseball cards.   Facebook users have not seen many of these people in decades and may not ever see them again.   Though the site started out as a way for college students to mingle, it has morphed into something bigger.   While the Facebook audience surged by 74% for users 18 to 24 between January 2010 and today, the user base among people 55 and older jumped 58.9%, according to iStrategyLabs.  Facebook also is growing in popularity in Europe where people tend to be less devout than in the U.S. For religious leaders, this represents an opportunity to reach young people who tend to avoid religious services and older people who tend to be more devout.

Some religious leaders, however, are not as enlightened as the Pope.  One New Jersey minister earned headlines recently by ordering his married followers to delete their Facebook accounts.  Others have argued that people should avoid Facebook for the secular reason of its cavalier attitude toward privacy.

Benedict seems to have struck the right balance between Facebook’s potential for good and its ability to make the modern world even more alienating.

–Jonathan Berr