The Pope isn’t one give a blessing to something modern without
coupling it with a warning. And so that is what Pope Benedict
XVI did today, when he gave a qualified blessing to social media
outlets like Facebook, but urged people to not let the
technology replace real human contact.  The pontiff had already
blessed online social media in a speech last year, although that
time he had only briefly mentioned how sites like Facebook
responded to people’s natural desire to connect with others.
This time, he gave an entire speech around it, ominously titled,
“Truth, proclamation and authenticity of life in the digital
age.”  The 83-year-old urged his audience to ask themselves who
their neighbors are in social media. He warned against being
available online all the time but “less present to those whom we
encounter in our everyday life,” according to Reuters. He also
cautioned about the risks of depersonalization, alienation, and
self-indulgence that social media might inspire.  For someone
who doesn’t have a person