The Pope has launched his own Facebook application. Yes, that's right, Pope Bendict XVI can now be referred to as the Digital Pontiff, with the launch of Pope2You. Apart from sounding disconcertingly like a papal pizza delivery service, the new application is the latest in the Vatican's attempts to reach out to loyal Catholics around the world.

You know social networking has really come of age when the Establishment starts to get in on the act. First politicians and big business, and now this. To be fair to His Holiness, the Vatican has already made moves in the Web 2.0 space with the launch of a papal YouTube channel, and says this new app will allow users to receive messages from the Benedict XVI through "the most important social network of the world". Sneak wonders what MySpace will have to say about that judgement.

"You can meet the Pope on Facebook, listen to his words, see his pictures, receive his messages of congratulations through 'virtual postcards'," according to the Vatican. "The postcards can be sent to your 'friends' on Facebook and the application can be shared by anyone."

But that's not all, kids. Sneak has discovered that the Pope also has a nifty iPhone and iPod Touch application out, which will give fans, sorry, followers, accesss to video and audio news on the pontiff's trips and speeches, as well as news on global Catholic events.

And before you all mock this rather incongruous use of Web 2.0 technology, by one of the oldest institutions on the planet, according to reports, the Pope2You portal garnered 45,000 contacts and 500,000 page views on the first day alone.