The Catholic Church continued its tradition of offering 'indulgences' to its followers. In the past, indulgences were offered for money and power. In present times, the indulgences are all digital. Following the Pope's official twitter account, @Pontifex, is said to save you time from Purgatory.
The Pope made an offer to those who cannot travel to the World Youth Day in Rio de Janiero, Brazil this year. He said that followers of his social media account that will retweet and support the events of the World Youth Day will acquire indulgences similar to scaling the Sacred Steps.
"The notion of indulgence is that you've already been forgiven for your sin, because you've gone to confession, at least in theory, but what it does is reduce the amount of time you have to spend in purgatory after you die to work off that sin," said University of Fordham's theology department chair Patrick Hornbeck.
The offer of a speedy transit to heaven was seen as a ploy to modernize the Catholic Church. Through social media, influence is gained via quick information dissemination. Wide broadcast is easily attained by popular Twitter users, which equate to increased market reach.
The social media scope grew consistently according to marketing research analysts. It is a new demographic that businesses should explore. The Pope just set an example.
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