Pope goes digital to connect with Australian youth

Pope Benedict will text message thousands of young Catholics on their mobile phones during World Youth Day in Sydney in July, hoping going digital will help him connect better with a younger audience.

The Pope will text daily messages of inspiration and hope during the six-day Sydney event while digital prayer walls will be erected at event sites and the church will set up a Catholic social networking website akin to a Catholic Facebook.

The Catholic Church said it decided to use technology to connect to the estimated 225,000 young Catholics expected to attend the World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations that start on July 15.

"We wanted to make WYD08 a unique experience by using new ways to connect with today's tech-savvy youth," Bishop Anthony Fisher said in a statement yesterday.

Australian telecoms firm Telstra will provide voice, data, mobile, broadband and broadcast services for the event, as well as erect digital prayer walls at event sites.

Telstra said it plans to connect 8,000 volunteers, 2,000 clergy, 3,000 media and an anticipated 225,000 pilgrims to more than 700 locations around Sydney.

The Catholic church is the biggest in Australia with about 5 million members, compared to about 4 million Anglicans among the nation's 21 million people.

Rowling wins privacy case over photo of her son

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has won her battle to ban the further publication of a long-lens photograph of her son, in a privacy case her lawyers called a major development in British law.

The initial claim by Rowling and her husband was thrown out by a London court last year, prompting the couple to appeal.

A panel of judges yesterday upheld the appeal.

Anthony Clarke, one of the judges hearing the appeal, said the child of a famous parent should have the same rights as that of "ordinary" parents.

The disputed photographs were taken on Nov 8, 2004 in Edinburgh while David was being pushed in a buggy by his parents.

They were published in a Sunday Express magazine, prompting Rowling to sue Express Newspapers and photo agency Big Pictures and seek to block further publication.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/08/2008 page11)