Pope: The First Cable News Pontiff

“Not only did this pope during his 27-year pontificate see the fall of communism, but he also witnessed the rise of the mass media, which he largely embraced. There was no CNN or World Wide Web in 1978, the last time the Catholic Church underwent a historic papal transition,” the Hollywood Reporter notes.

> Also: This is a great quote from an editorial in Italy’s Il Messagero newspaper: “Karol Wojtyla would not have become Pope Wojtyla without the media. Something he was very much aware of. No one was as aware as he was of the importance of the media in our present time. Similarly no one, to the extent that he was, knew how to exploit with such amiable ruthlessness its immense potential.”

MEDIABISTRO EVENTS

Get Social Media Marketing Secrets from Experts

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.