On May 2nd, 2011, there will be a meeting with bloggers in Vatican, organized by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, to foster informal exchange and contact with bloggers, that is authors of a self-managed space on the Web, and represented by the Church. The goal is to share the experiences made on the Internet and understand better the needs of the virtual community that exists around the Church.

I just read with great pleasure that my request to attend that meeting was accepted (I’m number 88).

The meeting should consist of two sessions. The first one will feature bloggers from five different languages. The second will include those involved in the communication strategies of the Church, who will present their experiences of working in new media, and the initiatives for an effective interaction between the Church and the world of bloggers.

The participation request I sent is below. Right now it is not clear if and how there will be ways for each participant to ask questions and/or make proposals, but let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that it will be possible. In that case, and considering context and goal of this specific meeting, I ask to all readers: which questions and proposals should I bring to that meeting? Please let me know in the comments, thanks.

My request for participation

….I’d like to attend because I am Catholic, and a speaker, writer and trainer, working on the impacts of digital technologies on civil rights, education, politics and environment, as you can see by my publications and courses at mfioretti.com.

I write about these topics and, when the occasion arises, also about the relationships between faith and digital questions, at the Stop (here’s one example) and other websites, including InformaticaEtica.com. Above all, however, I would like to attend because I started to explore the connections between Catholic faith and digital issues almost six years ago, with these articles:

• Free Software’s surprising sympathy with Catholic doctrine
• Christian endorsement of Free Software increases

which gave birth in 2006 to the Eleutheros Project, that promotes a Catholic approach to Information and Communication Technologies as explained in its Manifesto. I mention the same topics, whenever possible, also in my public talks, as I did for example in Quito in 2008 and in Bologna in 2009.

I look forward to hear from you.
Best Regards, M. Fioretti

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