Impressions from the first Vatican Blogger Conference
Rome in the year 2011. After the beatification of a prominent pope, the Vatican is inviting bloggers from around the world to share thoughts and ideas about future dialogue in the World Wide Web. Sounds silly or fantastic? Well, it actually happened. As I happened to be one of the 150 bloggers invited (although being a scientific blogger and German Protestant), I appreciated the chance to visit Rome, to get to know lots of wonderfull bloggers interested in religiosity and religions and to build some more contacts for scientific dialogue.
No, this was no touristic endeavour - not at all. Rome wasn't about partying these days, it commemorated the death and beatification of John Paul II., an especially charismatic pope who had brought church communication to new levels by travelling and by working with and establishing various media. Correspondingly, the city featured large and iconographic pictures from this special papal journey.
The officials from the vatican and the bloggers met at the Sala Congressi, Palazzo Pio X, at the via della Conciliazione, the street of reconciliation. The atmosphere was friendly and open from the start, with bloggers enjoying the chance to contact and the Church officials showing real curiosity. See for yourself an impression (I am the guy in blue running from the screen in the very first seconds of the video and never reappearing therein ;-) ).
As some of us shared the ensuing dialogue by Twitter, you might want to take a look at the ongoing references with the hashtag #vbm11.
Although I just gave some interviews to German-speaking radio stations (including Radio Vatikan) about the meeting, I will need some more time to get through all the wonderfull impressions, ideas and especially contacts won in Rome. It's not only about meeting nice people with the same interests (which would be a nice thing in itself!). Step by step, a new web-based culture is born. I am happy to see that religious traditions are beginning to discover the powerfull possibilities of dialogue - and to be a small part of it as as a blogging scientist.
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