MANILA, Nov. 22 (PNA) — The Vatican has acquired an exclusive domain which intends to maintain authenticity among Church-related website.
Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications said the Holy See obtained the .catholic domain from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
“It’s a way of having a space in the digital arena where the Church can have an authentic presence,” he said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news website.
Tighe added that the top-level domain will be offered to dioceses and religious orders (ex. www.manila.catholic for Manila archdiocese), which in turn would offer the second-level domain to recognized Catholic juridical bodies, schools and institutions (ex. www.sanagustinchurch.manila.catholic).
The Vatican is hoping that if all major catholic institutions will use .catholic top-level domain name, people who are searching for Catholic-related information will more likely get or be directed to an authentic catholic site.
Tighe noted that the Vatican acquired the domain to prevent others from taking it and to possibly invite all catholic organizations to be present in the internet.
However, he added that it would take a year or two before .catholic top-level domain will be operative.
“It’s a long-term project and we are taking it slowly,” he explained.
Tighe is in the country to attend the Catholic Social Media Summit (CSMS) on Saturday at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila. (PNA)