The top name on the web for 2013 is Pope Francis, and @Pontifex is the fourth most-used word on the web (ranking after “404”, “fail”, and “hashtag”). The Global Language Monitor has made its 14th Annual Survey of Global English of 1.83 billion English-speaking people of the world.
The secular mythology of our culture pushes a spirituality-is-increasingly-irrelevant barrow, with a concomitant technological-advances-decreases-spirituality-interest paradigm. On the other hand, almost as a mirror accepting this prejudice, many Christians and Christian institutions ignore the real world of the internet where more and more people now spend more and more of their real lives.
The reality is that deep spirituality with a fully human face is incredibly attractive and echoes our deepest human yearnings which have not been altered by the advent of the internet, but in the internet can find yet another way of making connections.
Isn’t it wonderful that we all have a opportunity to experience such a grand Pope and “Papa” in our lifetime! He has changed the church and made it accessible to everyone Catholic or not, religious or not. His emphasis on the poor and marginalized has brought him the love and acceptance of many. Along with his friendly and open ways he makes the downtrodden and socially outcast feel that they belong and are forever loved. God’s hand reaching down to all of us through a medium that works wonders. Praise him and our Holy Father!