Religion has always been
about effective communication to the masses and has always been involved in
publishing be it the Bible, the Koran, Illustrated Manuscripts , illuminated
Gospels. Religious publishing is itself a significant sector with powerhouses
such as Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale etc. The UK government has itself just
spent significant sums to send a James I bible into every UK primary school.
The Vatican has now
stepped up to the digital opportunity. Digital service giant, Aptara, have
announced that they are to produce the Vatican’s first eBooks. These will be as
an illustrated series of Pope Benedict’s weekly addresses dating back to March,
2006. Available from the Apple Store, the series contains 13 highly illustrated
eBooks. Each of the Pope’s weekly addresses focuses on a prominent figure in
the Church’s history and is enhanced by portraits, paintings, and photos.
This digital moves shows that
the Catholic Church is now expanding its reach and is hoping not onlt to engage
with younger and more technical savvy audiences but also with it huge audiences around the world and
especially in emerging digital markets such as Brazil. Father Giuseppe Costa,
CEO of the Vatican’s own publishing company Libreria Editrice Vaticana says,
'Every new communication technology is important to the Church’s missionary
activity.’
No comments:
Post a Comment