Total Catholic

Catholics who have signed up to a social networking site received a message from Pope Benedict in their inbox on Monday.

Xt3.com – which stands for Christ in the third millennium – was launched for World Youth Day in Australia in July. Since then, more than 35,000 people from 170 countries have signed up to the site.

Pope Benedict’s message asked for prayers for his visit to France this weekend and also praised the faith of young Catholics.

Robert Toone, project director of Xt3.com, said: “We are delighted and deeply honoured to receive the Pope’s message. His Holiness is displaying his usual readiness to use the latest technology in his desire to communicate with young people.”

Mr Toone said the site had started as the official social network for World Youth Day Sydney 2008 and that its ongoing focus was to “bring people together from all around the world who want to share their experiences, support each other and work together to build a better world”.

The site has all the usual functions of a social networking site such as profile pages, friends, photos, discussion groups and events.

But it also includes projects and prayer intentions and provides a worldwide diocesan structure with a homepage for each diocese.

In addition, it has a section where users can ask a priest questions on any subject.

“All importantly, the site is covered by 24/7 moderation to ensure that Xt3 remains a safer and more secure environment,” Mr Toone added.

• For more details visit www.xt3.com