Are you a Catholic who has no time to go to church to undergo confession for committed sins, but have the time to actively update your Twitter account? Good news from Vatican. The 2013-installed 266th Pope Francis will pardon your sins through Twitter. But ... you still have to follow the services lined up on World Youth Day, and yes, actively through Twitter as well as on other forms of social media and the traditional TV, radio and Internet.

Have Twitter, Follow Pope Francis, Receive Church Absolution, Pardon, Forgiveness from Sins During World Youth Day 2013, An Act of Many Firsts

Catholics are taught that they can earn indulgences from sins by carrying out certain tasks to lessen the perceived years that their souls will spend in Purgatory. An example of such task is to climb the Sacred Steps in Rome which was reportedly brought from Pontius Pilate's house after Jesus scaled them before his crucifixion.

Indulgences give recipients full pardon of temporal punishments for sins that have been confessed and forgiven. Temporal punishments could either be imposed in this lifetime or even in the afterlife.

Have Twitter, Follow Pope Francis, Receive Church Absolution, Pardon, Forgiveness from Sins During World Youth Day 2013, An Act of Many Firsts

But Pope Francis, ever eager to concoct of ways to embrace more Catholics and hopefully bring back into the fold runaway Catholics who have diverted to other religions because of varying reasons, on Tuesday announced he will bestow plenary indulgences to everyone and anyone who follows services on the upcoming World Youth Day, even if these people only follow along on Twitter.

The World Youth Day 2013 is scheduled to take place on July 23-28 at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. About two million faithful, predominantly young Catholics from all over the world are expected to turn out for the event.

Read: Vatican Releases Pope Francis Itinerary for World Youth Day 2013 in Brazil

What's also interesting to note is that this is the very first time for any Catholic pope to bestow indulgences through a virtual setting. The Pope only typically offers indulgences to those who personally see or visit him.

To receive the Pope's special forgiveness or indulgence, social or Twitter followers still have to perform this guiding principle - they still must have been able to have earlier confessed their sins through a priest as well as been absolved from it also by a priest, and have attended Mass. Then they follow along the live proceedings of the World Youth Day 2013 activities through Twitter and the other social networking sites in order to receive that special forgiveness or indulgence.

Have Twitter, Follow Pope Francis, Receive Church Absolution, Pardon, Forgiveness from Sins During World Youth Day 2013, An Act of Many Firsts

The key is that Catholic social media users must follow the events live to participate in the plenary indulgences.

"You don't obtain an indulgence like you get a coffee from a vending machine," Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, told Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary. "It's not enough just to watch a Mass online or follow Pope Francis via live streaming on your iPad or by connecting to Pope2You.net. These are just devices. What really counts is that the Tweet that the Pope will send from Brazil or the photos from World Youth Day produce genuine spiritual fruit in the heart of the person."

"Those wishing plenary indulgences must participate in the service under the usual spiritual, sacramental and prayer conditions, in a spirit of filial submission to the Roman pontiff," the Catholic News Agency wrote, as well as "in the sacred functions on the days indicated, following the same rites and spiritual exercises as they occur via television or radio or, with due devotion, via the new means of social communication."