Papal alms collection debuts on Facebook

Vatican City, May 19 : The Pope's annual charitable collection for the poor known as 'Peter's Pence' will soon have a Facebook page after its launch on Twitter and Instagram, the Vatican announced on Friday.

The Peter's Pence Facebook page in Italian will be followed by pages in Spanish and English, which are expected to go live in September and October, a Vatican statement said.

Scholarships to help university students uprooted from their homes in Iraqi Kurdistan and a new primary school for Dalit children in India were examples of projects supported by Peter's Pence, the Vatican said.

The Vatican wants to "create a community open to all with widespread use of Facebook at grassroots level, starting from Italy", and to highlight charitable works funded by Peter's Pence, said the statement.

Catholics are traditionally invited to make 'Peter's Pence' donations to the Pope's charitable works each year on June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, in a sign of solidarity.