Pope John Paul, who writes most of his speeches by hand and does not own a computer, will dedicate his message for World Communications Day to the Internet, the Vatican said today.
The Vatican said the 81-year-old Pope had chosen the theme Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel, for the yearly message, which will be published on January 24.
The Catholic Church will mark World Communications Day on May 12 next year but the message is published earlier in order to allow churches around the world to prepare.
The Pope's aides make no secret of the fact that he is a technological Luddite. He still writes his speeches and documents by hand or dictates them to aides.