Vatican offers less time in purgatory for believers who follow the Pope’s tweets

In its latest attempt to connect with believers via social media, the Vatican has said people who follow messages about an upcoming event shared by the Pope on Twitter can receive ‘indulgences’, which will reduce the amount of time Catholics believe they will have to spend in purgatory.

The Vatican has been careful to stress that it’s not offering absolution from sins on Twitter — just bringing the long-standing practice of indulgences to social media. Twitter followers would still have to confess and be absolved of their sins the old-fashioned way.

According to The Guardian, indulgences will be given to those which attend Catholic World Youth Day in Brazil next week, as well as those who can’t physically attend but follow the event live on TV, radio and Twitter. Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the pontifical council for social communication, told Italian publication Corriere della Sera that Catholics shouldn’t expect to use Twitter as a quick fix. “Get it out of your heads straight away that this is in any way mechanical, that you just need to click on the internet in a few days’ time to get a plenary indulgence,” he is quoted as saying. “You can’t obtain indulgences like getting a coffee from a vending machine.”

Specifically, the decree that confirms attendees of the event in Rio de Janeiro will receive indulgences states that “the faithful who are legitimately impeded [from attending the event] can obtain the plenary indulgence if … they follow these same rites and pious exercises as they take place via television or radio, or, always with appropriate devotion, by the new means of social communication.” So, casually retweeting updates from Brazil with no thought about what you’re doing won’t count — Celli says believers will have to be spiritually invested in the proceedings to receive the indulgence:

“There’s no counter handing out certificates. To put it another way, it won’t be sufficient to attend the mass in Rio online, follow the Pope on your iPad or visit Pope2You.net. These are only tools that are available to believers. What really matters is that the Pope’s tweets from Brazil, or the photos of World Youth Day that will be posted on Pinterest, should bear authentic spiritual fruit in the hearts of each one of us. Then even a youngster who is a very long way from Brazil and feels involved by a video, a simple text message or an email will be truly taking part in the World Youth Day and will receive the gift of the indulgence.”

Yes, the Vatican is also extending its social media reach to Pinterest. Late last year, it launched official Twitter accounts in various languages which were originally used by Pope Benedict, and have amassed more than 7-million combined followers to date.