Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

The BBC reports that the Vatican is urging people to email them in a bid to speed up his beatification. Apparently Pope John Paul II was a fan of the Internet (it’s worth looking at the article for the photo of him with a laptop alone) and the church is planning to whip up support by encouraging emails under categories such as ‘My meeting with John Paul II’ or ‘Blessings received’.

Is it just me or does this seem exceptionally wrong? First you can become ordained online and now you can make someone a saint via the Internet. I’ve heard that God moves in mysterious ways, but this really takes the biscuit. I never thought that he was in my Ethernet cable!

In all seriousness though, in my opinion this really undermines the beatification process of Pope John Paul II. Whether he performed miracles or not, the use of the Internet in this case doesn’t fit the bill. While I like the idea that catholics can share their experiences of the Pope together online, I find that in this instance the church is trying too hard to be popular with the world’s youth.

If the church expects to receive genuine emails about miracles that the former pope performed, then they’re also in line to receive millions in donations from all those Nigerians who just need your bank account to *coughs* scammers *coughs* claim money that is currently in limbo in their country.