Vatican video channel goes on YouTube

This image was posted on YouTube yesterday, showing Pope Benedict XVI's homepage for his dedicated channel. (YouTube)

VATICAN CITY - Taking his message to the digital generation, Pope Benedict XVI has launched a Vatican channel on YouTube, Roman Catholic Church officials announced yesterday. At a Vatican press conference, clergymen were joined by an executive of Google, the owner of YouTube, in publicizing the posting of 12 videos of the pope's activities. The pope hopes to expand the reach of the church and to exert greater control over its image, officials said.

"It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this digital continent," Benedict XVI said in a message released by the Vatican. "Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm."

But the pontiff, 81, warned, as he has in the past, that technology can prove a negative force.

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