Roman Catholic Church Goes Online

The center of the Roman Catholic faith in the Vatican City has long been regarded for its strict adherence to ecclesiastical tradition. But in a move to join today’s online world, the Vatican has recently accomplished many firsts in the world of information-technology. Among them, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to email an official church document back in 2001.

Sister Judith, 55, is a self-taught computer expert from New York City. She applied for a position within the Vatican in 1991 as the Pope was looking to shore up the Church’s modest IT abilities. She was first asked to create the Vatican website at http://www.vatican.va back in 1995.

Today, that website receives a maximum of 10 million his per day. It is one of the world’s most visited websites.

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The site is especially useful during special occasions within the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Last year, a record 180,000 emails were sent to Pope John Paul II for his 25th anniversary of being elected as head of the RCC.

"We had set up six mailboxes in as many languages, but the servers still had problems coping with the load. We were overwhelmed," she said.

In addition to posting information about special occasions, it is also regularly updated with daily bulletins from the Pope’s speeches and activities, while Vatican radio programs are streamed online.

"Catholics all over the world are very interested in our pope. Many of them want to know all sorts of details about his private life," says Sister Judith.

The Pope himself is certainly not a by-stander when it comes to the importance of the Internet. In a 2002 document, he said that the Internet offered “magnificent opportunities for evangelization if used with competence and a clear awareness of its strengths and weaknesses”.

Following this address, the Vatican got busy increasing its capacity to serve the online Catholic community. The heart of the Vatican internet network lies in servers located at the Vatican itself, inside of the Apostolic Palace, four floors beneath the Pope’s private quarters.

Here, technicians are installing 50 new servers, expanding the Vatican’s current traffic load capacity 10-fold. The Vatican is preparing to launch a new mega-project: a "virtual portal of the Catholic community" that will allow Catholics worldwide to chat and take part in news groups.

Sister Judith says that her job is to guarantee that the church’s sacredness is not in any way adulterated by the new technology. After all, the Vatican has always held its tradition very strongly.

Its three main servers, for instance, have been named after the archangels Gabriel, Michael and Raphael.

"We needed the extra protection of the archangels," she said, adding that no viruses had infected the Vatican to date.
Incidentally, Saint Isidore of Seville, credited with creating the world’s first encyclopedia, is being considered for the role of Patron Saint of the Internet.