Vatican seeks ".catholic" internet domain

June 13, 2012

The Vatican has taken initial steps to set up a new top-level domain name, “.catholic,” as a home for authentically Catholic internet sites.

The Vatican has made an application to ICANN, the international body that controls internet domains, to establish the “dot-catholic” domain. The application, which costs $185,000, could take more than a year to process. The Vatican has also made applications for the same domain name as spelled in Arabic, Chinese, and Cyrillic letters.

If it is approved by ICANN, the “dot-catholic” domain would be controlled by the Vatican. Church officials have not yet fully established how internet sites would obtain authorization to use the “dot-catholic” domain, but Vatican officials expect that they would work with local episcopal conferences to vet the organizations asking for that designation.

 

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Further information:

• Vatican seeks 'dot catholic' domain name (Vatican Radio)