Pope John Paul II Gets Posthumous Facebook Page

How popular is Facebook? The Vatican this week has taken the social networking website beyond the grave, setting up a Posthumous account for Pope John Paul II.

The deceased pope is set to be beatified on May 1 and the Vatican in anticipation of that event has posted various video highlights, photos and other information from the pontiffs 27 years as the top official for the Catholic church.

It’s the first time the Vatican has tried to evangelize a member of the church using social media.

A Vatican official told the AP:

“What we found is that Facebook doesn’t just share information, it creates community,” while adding, “People begin talking to each other and sharing ideas.”

Also in the pipeline is a new online portal that will launch this Easter and feature tweet and blog friendly offerings.

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According to the same Vatican official:

“A lot of our communications in the past was: I have a message. I broadcast it. TV takes it, radio takes it, newspaper takes it, and people passively receive it,” while adding, “With the Internet you have this possibility of getting people’s comments, getting their responses, and also of hearing their questions.”

Is there anywhere Mark Zuckerberg isn’t going to invade?