The Jesuits, for 500 years in the front line of Catholic evangelisation, have decided Second Life can be fertile territory for spreading the gospel, Paul Bompard writes. Their official organ, Civiltà Cattolica, notes: "This virtual Second Life is becoming populated with churches, mosques, temples, cathedrals, synagogues, places of prayer of all kinds. And behind an avatar there is a man or a woman, perhaps searching for God and faith, perhaps with very strong spiritual needs."