When your brand has a message that people want to hear, don’t you owe it to your consumers to give them that information in whatever form they desire? The Pope gets it; does your brand?

That’s right. According to Reuters, the Pope is texting Catholic followers during the World Youth Day event in Sydney, Australia. He will send daily messages of “inspiration and hope” on each of the six days of the event. The first text ran as follows:

Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Father’s supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus – BXVI”

The Catholic Church has more followers (5 million) than any other religion in Australia, and its leaders are looking for new ways to connect with its younger generations of followers. There will be more than 200,000 young Catholics at this event, so texting is a natural fit. According to Bishop Anthony Fisher: “We wanted to make WYD08 a unique experience by using new ways to connect with today’s tech-savvy youth.”

I think this experiment in texting could go further for the Catholic Church. First, in much of the developing world, texting has become the low-cost communication method of choice. In the Philippines, for example, there is a high number of Catholics (71 million, the fourth-most in the world), and a high number of mobile phone users (more than 46 million). Second, texting is a very personal form of communication – in this case allowing many followers to feel the power of direct messages from the Pope.

I think it is interesting to see the Catholic Church experiment with new ways to bring its meaningful message to the masses, especially because it is a faith that has kept close to its traditions for some time. And if a 2,000-year-old institution can experiment in new media, why can’t your brand?

UPDATE: Now Obama is getting into the text game with the news that he will announce his VP running mate via text.  Interesting way for his campaign to encourage people to join the texting communication list.