PAPA FRANCESCO E I MEDIA

Popes in Digital Era

Reflecting on the Rise of
the Digital Papacy
Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

Abstract

Some have suggested the current papal office represents a newly evolved,
digital literate and media engaged entity. This has led to framing the
current curia as a «digital papacy». Under the oversight of Pope Francis
the Internet now plays a vital role, not only in facilitating the dissemina-
tion of religious information and teachings for the Catholic church, but
in how it seeks to represent itself in a globally networked world. Since
the instillation of Pope Francis, the Roman curia of the Catholic Church
has increasingly embraced social media, like Instagram and Twitter, as
resources for spiritual and informational dissemination. The further
refining of digital resources such as Vatican.va, have been credited to
raising the prominence of Pope Francis’ digital profile. Pope Francis’
re-working of the Curia Communication Offices and structures also
shows his close attention to the role media plays in the Church. Such
innovation have been credited with the creation of a digital papacy,
where the papal office is shown as being more seriously invested and
strategically aware of how new media technologies can and should be
leveraged for religious purpose for the sake of the Church’s mission.
However, this paper seeks to investigate the claim that the current
papal office has indeed institute a new approach to media in a digital
age, and interrogate the claim that a unique digital papacy currently
exists. By comparing Pope Francis’ media use and strategies to that of
the two previous papal office we begin to see that the papal office does
now exist and function within a unique media moment – readily em-
bracing digital media – and it takes part of a longer historic trajectory
of media use and understanding in the Vatican. In this paper we argue
that while the current media work of Pope Francis can be described as

PROBLEMI DELL’INFORMAZIONE – ANNO XLIV, N. 3, DICEMBRE 2019

 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

a digital papacy, it is only because of the way it emulates and operates

within a broader theological strategy grounded in six or more decades
of theological teaching on Social Communication within the Church.

Keywords: Digital Religions, Pope Francis, Catholic Church, Media,

Internet

Introduction

The idea of a digital papacy existing was first suggest by news reports
in September 2015, surrounding Pope Francis when he visited the USA
for the first time of his papacy. During his visit, many Internet memes
were created and circulated on the Internet and social media used to
frame public response to the new pope and his role in a digital area1.
These Internet memes, typically composed of a popular
culture image with a humorous slogan or quote, became concise ways
to sum up American public perceptions of the new Pope. These were
easily copied, remixed and spread over social media (Spadaro 2017).
Prominent memes included an image from the movie Zool-
ander with one of the characters proclaiming the phrase: «That Pope
Francis, he’s so hot right now» (see Fig. 1) referencing the celebrity
like status of the Pope and the welcoming he received. Another meme
featured a photo from Time magazine of the Pope being driven through
the streets of New York, his papal gown flapping in the wind, with the
slogan «Like a Boss» (see Fig. 2). A further example showed a photo
of the Pope speaking at a public outdoor mass with his hand to his
ear and the phrase: «I’m sorry did you say, the Church is dwindling’?
I couldn’t hear you over 1.2 Billon Catholics» (see Fig. 3), referencing
the Catholic Church’s projected global membership. By combining
provocative quotes with easily recognizable popular culture references
or media photos, memes help communicate commonly held perceptions
and value judgements, not only about the character of the Pope, but
they also displayed popular culture and media views of the Catholic
Church in an increasingly digitally driven culture.

1
See MC Francis: Pope’s Hip-Hop Pose Inspires #popebars Internet Meme, in «The Guardian»
(2015), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/01/pope-francis-hip-hop-rapper-
microphone-meme.

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Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

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 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

Scholars have argued that Pope Francis has become an icon

in this cultural context, the spread of his image and quotes have been
pervasive in the Internet’s culture (Allen, San Martin 2017). This has
also garnered him many nicknames to describe the Pope’s status in
popular culture including the «Internet Pope», the «Tweeting Pope»
and the «Digital Pope» because of the pervasiveness of his images being
shared online and the viral nature of his quotes (Guzek 2015). However,
this article seeks to interrogate these claims and puts for the assertion
that Pope Francis can only be described as a «digital Pope» because he
is situated in an important progression of media teachings. We argue
that the teachings and work of the papacies of Pope John Paul II and
Pope Benedict XVI created a trajectory of media advocacy and framing
strategies that have laid the groundwork for Pope Francis to become
a «Digital Pope» (Campbell 2010b). By exploring the flourishing of
Church teaching on social communication and media use we are able
to explore these interesting developments and the media status of the
Papal office today.

Methodology

This research study is based on the thematic analysis of core documents

related to the Vatican focused on themes of the Church, Media and
Communication. The aim was to investigate the narratives surroun-
ding Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis and their
relationship with and responses to digital technology and the Internet.
This involved a review of two sets of documents. First, a review of do-
cuments produced by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications,
dealing with theological commentary on communication technology and
documents related to the Internet. This was done in order to provide
an assessment of official Catholic views of media, as advocated by the
Papal office at a given time period. This provided details enabling us
to outline dominant Church views of digital technology from general
commentary on the digital era in these texts.
Second, all the transcripts from sermons/speeches given by
each of the three popes on World Communications Day were reviewed.
Here special attention was given to how each Pope described digital
media in both theological and instrumental terms, which forms of

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digital media they cited as exemplars (i.e. Internet, social media, etc.)
and specific instructions given regarding the ethical use of these dif-
ferent forms of media. This information enable us to create a profile of
each Pope regarding the type of media they highlighted and kinds of
theological and ethical assessments they make regarding these. Finally,
the three digital profiles constructed and presented in the latter half of
the article have been supported throughout all the paper with the use
of emblematic memes which exemplify their social perception.

Framing Catholic Church Approach to Media

We can’t understand digital media and the Church’s response to the

Internet if we don’t look back at its communication philosophy and its
communication theology (Marchetti 2015); here the starting point is
the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. This is an important
institution, part of the Vatican Curia, founded in 1948 and originally
set up by Pope Pius XII to look at the medium of film. It was originally
called the Pontifical Commission for the Study and Ecclesiastical Eva-
luation of Films on Religious or Moral Subjects and it was shortened
a year later to the Pontifical Commission for Educational Religious
Films (Melloni 1998).
Pope Pius XII recognized that films were emerging in popu-
lar culture on a global scale as an artistic and communication field and
he was concerned about how cinema might: «influence in the thinking,
the habits, the life of the countries where it develops its power – par-
ticularly among the poorest classes»2. He argued that there was a need
for the proper theological study of cinema.
In 1955, in the Apostolic Exhortations The Ideal Film, Pius
XII affirms: «The Church welcomes technological progress and receives
it with love, for it is an indubitable fact that technological progress
comes from God and therefore can, and must, lead to Him»3.

2
See Apostolic Exhortations of His Holiness Pius XII to Representatives of the Cinema
World: http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-xii_
exh_25101955_ideal-film.html.
3
See Apostolic Exhortations of His Holiness Pius XII to Representatives of the Cinema
World: http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-xii_
exh_25101955_ideal-film.html.

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By 1964 the Pontifical Council was renamed the Pontifi-

cal Council for Social Communications (PCSC) precisely because the
world was entering in the new era of cinema and television. This new
re-numeration described itself as dealing with the problems and op-
portunities raised by these media as well as the daily and periodical
press in relation to the interest of the Catholic religion. The aim of the
Pontifical Council was then to address social communications issues
(Ruozzi 2015).
In this context social communication became important be-
cause this was no longer only a practical concept but also a theological
construct. Indeed with the constitution of PCSC the Catholic Church
aimed to address the challenges and the opportunities proposed by the
development of communication technologies as a social process with
ethical implications. Information communication technologies are fi-
nally conceived in a space that affects all humanity no matter their class,
no matter their ethnicity nor the space that they occupy (Zizola 1996).
Over the last sixty to seventy years, the Pontifical Council
for Social Communications, has contribute to innovation of the Church
itself, but probably its key contribution are the eleven papal documents
or decrees that it has put out. In some cases, these documents on com-
munication have been media specific, like Ethics in Advertising4 which
came out in 1997, or the most recent documents as The Church and
the Internet5 and Ethics in Internet6 which came out in 2002. Argu-
ably, the most important document that was put out was Communio
et Progressio (1971) which is a document with strong connections to
the Second Vatican Council and was an interlude of a series of intense
theological discussions (Baragli 2019).
The Second Vatican Council was really concerned with how
the Church should monitor the use of media to see what effect it was
having on the spiritual wellbeing of the Church, as well the potential
spiritual harm or advantages that media could bring to the community
of believers (Zizola 2019).

4
See PCSC, Ethics in Advertising: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/
pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_22021997_ethics-in-ad_en.html.
5
See PCSC, The Church and the Internet: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_
councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_church-internet_en.html.
6
See PCSC, Ethics in Internet: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/
documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_ethics-internet_en.html.

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Communio et Progressio’s main aim was to look at issues

of social justice and media as God given and what it provides is not
only a practical guide of how Catholics should present the media, but
also how teasing out some of the core theological claims of the Catholic
church understandings of media.
One of its most relevant aspects is that the Church sees media
as gifts of God and Christ is revealed as a perfect communicator, so we
have been given a model of communication to look at his practical and
rhetorical style. The argument, first and foremost, is that media and
communication tools should be about bringing equality to people and
about fairness and justice, and this perspective perfectly tying into the
social justice doctrine of the Catholic Church. Moreover, modern media
offers a new way of confronting people with the Gospel, and for this
reason one of the primary ways we should use media is for evangelism
and mission. Lastly, we use media to serve both the progress of man
and the glory of God. Here it is evident the twofold role of media: one
for evangelical mission and the other one as a tool to promote human
justice or affirmation of human dignity (Sozzi 2009).
From the Communio et Progressio and the work of the
Pontifical Council, we see also the emergence of World Communica-
tions Day (WCD) which was established in 1967 by Pope Paul VI.
Pope’s aim was to give a speech on whatever media are for that year
and focusing on how they affect the Church. With the World Com-
munications Day the Church really tried to draw attention into how
communication media can be key to cultural transformation and its
impact upon the Church, similarly, the Church’s impact then upon
culture (De Giorgi 2015).
In conclusion considering the Pontifical Council as an
instrument that provides a theological and practical training for the
Church – laid out by a clear theological document, Communio et
Progressio – and the World Communications Day as a place for the
Pope to speak in and about media culture, we can now begin to look
at the impact on media of the last three popes and what they represent
for the media age.

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 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

Digital Papacy as a Technological & Theological Legacy

The emerging of digital papacy and the influence of each of the pre-
ceding popes could be summed up by another popular Internet meme
that surfaced during the 2015 Papal visit to the US. The meme showed
images of the last three Popes with a single word describing the popu-
lar perceptions of the character of each pontifex. The first image of
John Paul the Second is overlaid with the word «Hope». Then image
of Benedict bears the word «Faith» and over the image of Francis is
the word «Charity» (see Fig. 4). This pays homage to the scripture
from 1 Corinthians 13 which states: «For now there abides faith, hope
and charity. But the greatest of these is charity». These words can be
seen as summations of the perceived contributions of each Pope to the
Papal office. In this section, we use this meme as a framing narrative
to introduce popular perception of each of the three papal office. This
sets the stage for later discussions of the media strategies embraced
by each papal office.

Fig. 4

It has been argued that Pope John Paul II was seen as a glo-
balizing Pope, one able to connect different arenas of the Church in an
apostolic way, and taking on the role of a preacher offering hope to a
struggling Church and world (Gonzalez 2009). This is summed up by the

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meme which represents the last three popes and below Woytila’s Picture
appears the sentences «this is what we believe» (see Fig. 5). This global
perspective explains also why Pope John Paul II recognized the importance
of the Internet as a tool for social communications for the Church.
In 1986, in the Pontifical Council for Social Communica-
tions, he speaks directly to the role of priests and the growing number
of social communication technologies:

Future priests should be trained in the seminary in the correct use of

these instruments. This provision had a threefold purpose, namely, that
the seminarians might impose discipline on their own personal use of
the media, that they might be able to train the faithful in their turn to
exercise similar self-discipline, and that they might learn how to use
the media in their own apostolate7.

In 1989 during the World Communications Day, Pope John

Paul II also stated: «The Church must learn to cope with computer
culture»8, and then in 1996 the Vatican started its first web site.
Pope Benedict earned a reputation of being an astute though
dense theologian, committed to thinking deeply about church doctrines
(O’Mahony 2009).
Benedict can be framed as a man of Faith, as a theologian
and an explainer; he is associated in this meme with the quote «this is
why we believe» (see Fig. 5). During his papacy, Benedict promoted
social media use and literacy for church clergy, and for religious educa-
tion and teaching. During the years of his papacy Benedict dedicated
his message for the World Communications Day to New Technologies,
New Relationships: Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and
Friendship9 (2009), to The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital
World: New Media at the Service of the Word10 (2010), and to the Social

7
See Congregation for Catholic Education, Guide to the Training of Future Priests Concern-
ing the Instruments of Social Communications: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifi-
cal_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_19031986_guide-for-future-priests_en.html.
8
See Religion in the Mass Media: https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/
communications/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_24011989_world-communications-day.html
9
See New Technologies, New Relationships. Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and
Friendship. http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/communications/docu-
ments/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20090124_43rd-world-communications-day.html.
10
See The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the
Word http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/communications/documents/
hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day.html.

427
 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

Networks: Portals of Truth and Faith; New Spaces for Evangelization11

(2013). Here Pope Benedict directly spoke about social network sites,
stating: «Believers are increasingly aware that, unless the Good News is
made known also in the digital world, it may be absent in the experi-
ence of many people for whom this existential space is important. The
digital environment is not a parallel or purely virtual world, but is a
part of the daily experience of many people».
Without forgetting that just the previous year, the Vatican
launched the first Twitter account, @Pontifex.

Fig. 5

Pope Francis, in his papacy is seen as taking on the role

of the shepherd, calling people not to just know but «now go do it»
as the meme charges (see Fig. 5). He represents the pastoral role and
calling others to act out their faith in the world today (Ivereigh 2014).
In the next paragraphs, we will enter more in detail on the practical
and theological aspects which characterized Pope Francis approach to
digital media. For the moment we argue these characterizations of each
Pope – as seen in these Internet memes – also represent their approaches

11
See Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization http://
w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-
xvi_mes_20130124_47th-world-communications-day.html.

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to the dominant digital communication platforms emerging within the

era of their papacies’ and how they chose to engage with them. Starting
from this point, this article suggests three papacies can be described as
follows: John Paul II-The texting Pope, Benedict-the tweeting pope and
Francis as the selfie Pope. Each of these characterizations are build-
ing on and from a longer history of the Catholic Church’s engagement
and theological reflection on media technologies and especially on the
current era of digital media (Narbona 2016).
However, before we can look at each of these papacies we
need to look to the history of the Church’s stance and reaction to media.
We can’t understand the Church’s response to digital media if we do
not first consider its communication philosophy and policies, as well
as its theology of communication.

John Paul: The Internet-Texting Pope

Here above we suggested that John Paul II, can be described as the
«Internet/Texting Pope», because of the global reach and impact of
his papacy. Pope John Paul II came into the papacy in 20th century,
and grew alongside the phenomena of the 24-hour news cycle and
24-hour news coverage, so he had to adapt the Church’s message to
this new media environment and learn how to use new technologies
(Anyidoho 2016). One of his attempts to address the rise of computer
culture alongside mass media driven society was through his World
Communications speech, in 1990, where he talks about the Christian
Message in Computer Culture12.
Here the Vatican begins to realize that computers are not
just becoming tools of the work place but they are involved also into
business, education, and overall they have a strong impact on culture
as a whole. The Church needed to understand how people view these
new tools and technology, to figure out where the Church needs to
communicate with the public (Zizola 1996). In 1996, Pope John Paul
was a key actor in helping to get the first Vatican website. The Inter-
net was quickly seen by the papal office and the Church as a new tool

12
See Christian Message in Computer Culture http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/
messages/communications/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_24011990_world-communications-day.
html

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 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

for proclaiming the Gospel13. The Pope was also influential in talking
about The Church and the Internet (2002)14 and on the Ethics in the
Internet (2002)15. In the first document, he discusses how the Church
should respond to the Internet and really picks up on the second half
of Communio et Progressio offering guidance on how Catholics should
position themselves in new media and how they should see their role
as representatives of the Church (Zsupan-Jerome 2019). The second
document Ethics of the Internet was a broader separate document that
was really addressed to the outsiders of the church and it implores that
government officials, countries, and societies as a whole should use the
Internet in a way that encourages communication, rather than ghet-
toizing or separating the people of contemporary culture.
Having this global apostolic role, John Paul embraces this
new global networking capability, seeing the Catholic Church as a hub
for which information can be spread, and grasps onto it as facilitating
that process. In 1999, during the 33rd World Communications Day, John
Paul said a notable quote: «Technology that pollutes can also cleanse,
production that amasses can also distribute justly, on condition that
the ethic of respect for life and human dignity, for the rights of today’s
generations and those to come, prevails»16.
So again, while he offered some practical advice, he is re-
ally focusing on the heart of the Communio et Progressio and the idea
that communication should bring about human justice and equality.
Also technology should be something that people can have free and
open access, and the Church should teach them the best model of good
communication practices (Shields 2008).

13
See PCCS: Guide to the Training of Future Priests Concerning the Instruments of Social
Communications (1986) http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/docu-
ments/rc_pc_pccs_doc_19031986_guide-for-future-priests_en.html.
14
The Church and the Internet http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/
documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_church-internet_en.html.
15
Ethics in the Internet http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/docu-
ments/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_ethics-internet_en.html.
16
Mass Media: A Friendly Companion for Those in Search of the Father, https://w2.vatican.
va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/communications/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_24011999_
world-communications-day.html.

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Benedict: The Tweeting Pope

As mentioned before, Pope Benedict was a firm embracer of technology

as we see from the inauguration of the Pope’s Twitter account. Espe-
cially for this reason, we have described him as the «Tweeting Pope».
In his short papacy, Benedict understood the need for the Church to
embrace even more new technologies, as he announced in 2009, during
the 43rd World Communications Day in his speech New Technologies
and Relationships: Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue, and
Friendship17. With this discourse, Benedict was actually asking a lot
of hard questions about the impact of technology and society. He was
really trying to push the Church to think ethically about the impact of
technologies and how the relationships to one another, and especially
the relationship to pastoral care, have been affected.
As he notes in the World Communications Day speech in
2010, The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Me-
dia at the Service of the Word18, it’s not just a matter of how priests
and the pastoral ministries should use media, but how they should be
trained to take up the call to do more digital media literacy in their
work. Pope Benedict was speaking directly in this document about
people embracing technology but with fluency and ability to interpret
the implications of their usage.
In 2013, during the World Communications Day in his
speech Social Networks: Portals of Truth and Faith; New Spaces for
Evangelization19, Benedict states: «Social networks are the result of
human interaction, but also reshape the dynamics of communication
which builds relationships. A considered understanding of this envi-
ronment is, therefore, a prerequisite for a significance presence there».
The launch of Vatican Twitter account @Pontifex, the official Twitter
Papal’s profile, falls within this vision, which conceives the virtual

17
See New Technologies, New Relationships. Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and
Friendship, https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/communications/docu-
ments/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20090124_43rd-world-communications-day.html.
18
See WCD (2010) The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the
Service of the Word: http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/communications/
documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day.html.
19
See WCD (2013), Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization
http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-
xvi_mes_20130124_47th-world-communications-day.html.

431
 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

environment not only as a parallel, virtual world, but also as a part of

the daily human experience (Narbona 2016).
In conclusion, we see that Benedict is not at all negative
about technology, but he encourages a deep theological and rhetorical
reflection in those digital practices.

Francis: The Selfie Pope

Finally we arrive at the core discussion of this paper: the digital com-
munication of Pope Francis. First of all one of the things we have to
understand – especially in the transition between Benedict and Pope
Francis – is that Pope Benedict emerges in a very different era. In 2005,
during the enthronement of Pope Benedict if you would have been in
St. Peter Square you would have seen one or two phones, while in 2013
the whole crowd was waiting the first greeting of Pope Francis with
their digital devices (see Fig. 6). Between 2005 and 2008, smartphone
have been a real revolution and Benedict has exactly gone through the
years of this changing.

Fig. 6

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With the smartphone culture, also the Internet started be-

coming more mobile and embedded into everyday culture. The smart-
phone really changed people’s interactions and what it really meant to
be networked and interconnected (Bennato 2011).
This new culture not only affects how popes communicate,
but also the communication style that differs between Benedict and
Francis (Spadaro 2017). Observing the very first tweet that Benedict
sent: «Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you though Twit-
ter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my
heart», is definitely formal in its expression with a sort of broadcasting
style messages of him connecting with the people. Moreover, considering
that Benedict was very new to Twitter and he was just learning how
to use it, the Pope Francis’ first tweet can easily seem more person-
able, friendly, and informal: «Dear friends, I thank you from my heart
and I ask you to continue to pray for me. Pope Francis» (Fig. 7). This
communication clearly highlights the transition from web 1.0 to web
2.0 culture, from broadcast mentality to a much more interactive and
pervasive way of communicating through technology.

Fig. 7

Social media and selfies are often all about facilitating in-
dividual’s identity performance, and this is also why Pope Francis is
often called the «Selfie Pope»20. For instance, although Fig. 8 may not
have been the first papal selfie, it was absolutely the first official papal

20
Especially on Us news report. See: Pope Francis and the First «Papal selfie»: https://www.
telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/10277934/Pope-Francis-and-the-first-Papal-
selfie.html.

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 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

selfie that got a lot of international media attention when it hit the
press21. In this image is evident how the Pope puts himself in a place
to be approachable and accessible. He himself is not «selfie-ing» but
he is very much willing to jump into this new digital culture and let
the people include him.

Fig. 8

While Pope Francis has been accredited as an innovator

(Ballardini 2014), in 2016 the Vatican and the Pontifical Council for
Social Communication was able to secure the .catholic domain22. The
domain is designed to be a way for the Catholic church and for the
Vatican to designate official web sources with a stamp of approval. It
will not be given to individual Catholics – so it can’t be seen as the
church endorsing some people and not others – but rather it will be
given to official and institutionalized websites.
Pope Francis has also been known as reforming many areas
of the Curia and one of those is looking at the media and communication
practices. In 2015, Pope Francis promulgated a Motu Proprio institut-
ing the Secretariat for Communication23. The Motu Proprio establishes

21
See also A Brief List of Pope Selfies, Ranked https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/
worldviews/wp/2014/09/12/a-brief-list-of-pope-selfies-ranked/?utm_term=.bbe60cddfdce.
22
See Vaticano, un nuovo dominio Internet per certificare i siti cattolici: https://www.repubblica.
it/tecnologia/2016/04/05/news/vaticano_dominio_catholic-136965364/.
23
See For the Establishment of the Secretariat for Communication http://w2.vatican.va/content/
francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio_20150627_segreteria-
comunicazione.html.

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that all communication offices will be incorporated under the direction

of the new Secretariat for Communication, including the Pontifical
Council for Social Communications, the Holy See Press Office, Vatican
Internet Service, Vatican Radio, the Vatican Television Center (CTV),
the Osservatore Romano, Vatican Typography, Photograph Service, and
the Vatican Publishing House (Libreria Editrice Vaticana). The new
Secretariat will also work in union with the Secretariat of State for the
direction of the institutional website of the Holy See, www.vatican.va
and the Twitter account of the Holy Father: @pontifex24.
In 2018, after the resignation of the Prefect of the Sec-
retariat, Msgr. Dario Edoardo Viganò, the Secretariat was renamed
Dicastery for Communication and Pope Francis appointed for the first
time a layman as Prefect, the journalist Paolo Ruffini25.
Practically instead of having Vatican radio, Vatican televi-
sion, Vatican publications, the Dicastery’s purpose is conglomerating
them into one overseeing office with the goal to centralize all news me-
dia sources. Similar to what the Pontifical Council had done launching
News.va site in 2014, the aim of joining all Vatican’s digital platform
is to get rid of the layers of bureaucracy and be more integrative in the
digital strategies (Valladares, Herrera 2015).
Behind the image of a Pope very friendly and open in the use
of digital communication, there is actually a strong institutionalization
and structuralizing communication’s strategy.
As Pope Francis himself admits26: he doesn’t use a pc, he
doesn’t email, etc. So even though he is a supporter of technology, he
himself is a latent adopter.
This controversial approach to digital technology of Pope
Francis emerges also from his recent Encyclical letter Laudato Si’
(2015), talking about the virtual environment: «When media and the
digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from

24
See: Pope Francis Promulgates Motu Proprio Instituting the «Secretariat for Communica-
tions»: http://www.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2015/06/27/pope_francis_promulgates_
motu_proprio_instituting_the_%E2%80%98secretariat_for/en-1154455.
25
See Dicastery for Communication: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/segreterie/segreteria-
comunicazione/documents/segreteria-per-comunicazione_profilo_en.html.
26
Watch the interview Yo soy un tronco con la maquina: http://www.sanfrancescopatronoditalia.
it/notizie/attualita/video-il-papa-si-confessa-in-rete-sono-un-disastro-col-computer-33144#.
XSxWRegzbIU.

435
 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

learning how to live wisely, to think deeply, and to live generously»27.

Also in 2018, during his speech at the World Meeting Family in Ireland,
the Pope warned of the dangers of social media and alerted the delegates
to its potential to threaten «the real web of flesh and blood relation-
ships». He said while technology could bring people together if used
with «moderation and prudence», it could also be guilty of «imprisoning
us in a virtual reality and isolating us from the very relationships that
challenge us to grow to our full potential in communion with others»28.
So while certainly part of digital culture are embraced by
Pope Francis, he is also highly critical of the digital culture, and while
we are seeing an over-mediatizes and over-socialized Pope, actually in
somewhat he is institutionally challenging the digital communication.

Reflections on Digital Papacies

Finally, summing up the approach of the past three popes to the Inter-
net we have with Pope John Paul the «Apostolic/Global Pope» of the
Internet, with Benedict the «Theologian/Tweeting Pope» of the Internet
and currently we have the «Shepherding/Selfie Pope» of the Internet.
But can we actually call Pope Francis the Digital Pope?
His communication style has been described as evocative, as succinct,
as focused, and very much as speaking to the people (see Fig. 9). His
tweeting style is described by meme culture, using who plays of God in
a movie… Morgan Freeman plays the role of God, saying: «Most of the
people Francis quotes on the Internet are just like most of my quotes
on the Internet» (see Fig. 10). This says a lot about the ability of Pope
Francis to speak the words of the Gospel in a very practical way that
touches people’s hearts.
In this brief overview we see three very different com-
munication styles at work. We also argue that had it not been for the
embrace of the Internet under the papal office of John Paul, and for the
advocacy of Pope Benedict in using social media for religious education

27
See encyclical letter Laudato Si’: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/
documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.
28
See the news https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/pope-francis-warns-
80-000-at-croke-park-of-social-media-dangers-1.3608016.

436
 Reflecting on the Rise of the Digital Papacy

and advocacy, today we would not have the vision of Pope Francis as
the Selfie Pope.

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

Yet it was the viral spread of memes that help-invigorate

and maybe even helped to rehabilitate the image of the Pope in popu-
lar culture, with celebratory memes that appeared during the first few
years of Francis’s papacy, framing his as a progressive (SM Reputation
Metrics 2013).
Social media shaped the iconic image of Pope Francis as
media engaged even if he has been relatively less engaged and more
critical of digital technologies than previous papal offices (Narbona
2016).
In conclusion, we would describe Pope Francis not truly
being a digital Pope in his personal practice, nor even in his language
up to this point that he has produced, but rather for his succinct and
evocative communication style that is ideal and typical of digital cul-
ture. Thus allowing his ideas or persona to go viral online whether it

437
 Heidi A. Campbell, Alessandra Vitullo

be through his tweets, the memes that are produced about him, or how
he is able to become the ideal form or icon that is easily translatable
in the digital era (Vitullo 2014).
Indeed what we have now is a digital papacy, that begins
in 1948, from the foundation set of the Pontifical Council on Social
Communications. This work, and especially the work of Communio
et Progressio, has built upon a tradition and trajectory of a very clear
and consistent theology of communication relating to new media (Sozzi
2009). The idea that technologies are a gift from God, that Christ is
the perfect communicator, have promoted the principle that our me-
dia and communication should push for equality and the dignity of
all humanity (Shield 2008). Moreover the ideas emerging from World
Communications Day, the work of the previous popes and their papa-
cies – embracing computer media culture by calling for reflection and
even critique of it – have all risen to what we have now in the Pope of
the digital era.

Heidi A. Campbell
Department of Communication
Texas A&M University
MS 4234, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
heidic@tamu.edu

Alessandra Vitullo
Bruno Kessler Foundation
via Santa Croce 77 – 38122 Trento, Italy
avitullo@fbk.eu

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