Vatican singles out bishops in urging reflective not reactive social media use

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is urging the Catholic faithful, and especially bishops, to be “reflective, not reactive” on social media. The Vatican’s communications office issued a reflection Monday to try to tame the toxicity on Catholic Twitter and other social media platforms and encourage users to instead be “loving neighbors.” For decades the Holy See has offered such thoughts on different aspects of communications technologies, welcoming the chances for encounter they offer but warning of the pitfalls. The new message singled out bishops and other church leaders in warning that their engagement can be particularly problematic.