Italian archbishop reaches out to flock ... on YouTube

Agence France-Presse

ROME - An Italian archbishop has become an unexpected Internet star by answering questions from his flock each week on YouTube, getting more than 65,000 hits each time, the Milan diocese said Thursday.

Archbishop Dionigi Tettamanzi has used the season of Lent to post videos on the site of up to ten minutes at a time, answering theological dilemmas.

"The first video, put on line four weeks ago, was viewed more than 65,000 times, mainly by Italian Internet surfers but also in Austria and Spain," Tettamanzi's spokesman said.

The questions they have been asking mainly concern baptism, the diocese's theme for the Lent season leading up to Easter, Father Davide Milani said, adding that so far Cardinal Tettamanzi had received nearly 400 questions so far.

"Why are the baptized considered children of God? Aren't we all God's children?" one question read.

Another asked: "Did baptism exist during Jesus' time?"

Milani said the northern Italian diocese chose to launch the initiative on YouTube, "a generalist and secular site, so that a wide public could benefit from the religious teachings of Monsignor Tettamanzi."

The spokesman said the initiative had been "very favorably" received by the Italian Catholic Church, especially priests in the Milan diocese.

The videos, lasting nearly 10 minutes, have been put on line every Friday.

The last in the series will be posted this Friday ahead of Holy Week preceding Easter, which falls on March 23.

For Christians, Lent is a 40-day period of fasting and prayer before Easter, the most important date in the liturgical year marking Christ's resurrection on the third day after his crucifixion.