Pope Francis has praised the Internet as a "gift from God" that facilitates communication. Communication is a crucial element to reach out to non-Christians to bring them to the Christianity - euphemism for religious conversions. Francis made the observations in a message about Catholic Church communications, titled "meditating on the marvels and perils of the digital era" and what that means for the faithful going out into the world and interacting with people of different faiths and backgrounds.
Soft spoken Pope Francis is feared by non-Christians, especially Hindus, for his belligerent enthusiasm to infuse fresh energy in Christian engagement with the rest of the world. The ability of Pope Francis to take riskier positions while delivering the commitment of the Church to proselytize non-Christians is evident when he said "To (have a) dialogue means to believe that the 'other' has something worthwhile to say, and to entertain his or her point of view and perspective," The New Pope is saying that in engaging in that dialogue, Catholics shouldn't be arrogant in insisting that they alone possess the truth. For Pope Francis, this is not an intellectual commitment for an unconditional dialogue seeking the truth. To clarify Francis wrote. "Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but the pretense that they alone are valid and absolute."
Internet is invading all spheres of lives of people, especially newer generations and transforming the way people communicate. Setting an agenda for the Church to exploit this phenomenon to spread Christianity, Pope Francis noted in his message on Thursday 23rd January 2014, that Internet offers "immense possibilities" to encounter people from different cultural and traditional backgrounds and show solidarity with them. The Pope is confident of using the Internet efficiently and so said "This is something truly good, a gift from God". Continuing he also called for communications in the digital era to be like "a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens hearts". Specifically, he wants the church's message not to be one of bombarding non-Chrsians with Christian dogma in an ineffective way. Pope Francis said "May the light we bring to others not be the result of cosmetics or special effects". He reiterated to focus on the vulnerable and the poor to receive the effective communication to be read by the Internet. "The light we bring to others be of our being loving and merciful neighbors to those wounded and left on the side of the road," he said.
Although the media is predicting that the comments would likely to rile the more conservative wing of the church, in reality, Pope Francis has offered the softer approach in sermons and gestures, not deviating from the rigid Church teachings.
According to church teaching distilled by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Catholic Church holds the "fullness of the means of salvation" — a message that has long been taken to mean that only Catholics can find salvation. Church teaching also holds that those who don't know about Jesus but seek him can also attain eternal salvation. Pope Francis is also just following the path of his previous head - Pope Benedict XVI who was a strong proponent of engaging in inter religious dialogue.
Archbishop Claudio Mario Celli, the head of the Vatican's social communications office, said he didn't think Francis was making an official policy statement on inter religious dialogue, noting that the message was merely a reflection, "not a conciliar or dogmatic text."
But he acknowledged that Francis is shaking things up in much the same "providential" way Pope John XXIII shook up the church in launching the Second Vatican Council. "We are realizing that there are sensations of, I wouldn't say difficulty, but of discomfort sometimes in certain circles," he said. "I think step by step we must rediscover a sense of the path, of what the pope wants to tell us." Pope Francis is cleverly positioning the Church to hasten the proselytizing pace and his followers take some time to understand and adopt his style of thinking.
