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Pope
Benedict XVI - Addresses |
Papal
Address to Catholic Media
"New Technologies ... Can Make
the True and the False Interchangeable"
October 7, 2010
Esteemed Cardinals,
Venerated Brothers,
Distinguished Gentlemen and Ladies,
I receive you with joy at the end of the
four days of intense work promoted by the
Pontifical Council for Social Communications
and dedicated to the Catholic press. I
cordially greet all of you -- coming from 85
countries -- who work in newspapers,
weeklies or in other periodicals and
Internet sites. I greet the president of the
dicastery, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli,
whom I thank for giving voice to the
sentiments of all, as well as the
secretaries, the under-secretary and all the
officials and staff. I am happy to be able
to address a word of encouragement to you to
continue, with renewed motivations, your
important and qualified work.
The world of the media is going through a
profound transformation also within itself.
The development of the new technologies and,
in particular, widespread multimedia, seems
to call into question the role of the more
traditional and consolidated media.
Appropriately, your conference pauses to
consider the specific role of the Catholic
press. A careful reflection on this field,
in fact, brings up two particular aspects:
on one hand the specificity of the means --
the press, that is, the written word and its
timeliness and efficacy, in a society which
has seen antennas, satellite dishes and
satellites multiply, becoming almost the
emblem of a new way of communicating in the
era of globalization. And the other point,
the connotation "Catholic," with the
responsibility that derives from it to be
faithful in an explicit and substantial way,
through the daily commitment to follow the
masterful way of truth.
The search for truth must be pursued by
Catholic journalists with a passionate mind
and heart, but also with the professionalism
of competent staff who are equipped with
adequate and effective means. This is even
more important in the present historical
moment, which asks of the figure itself of
the journalist, as mediator of the flow of
information, to undertake a profound change.
Today, for example, the world of the image
with the development of ever new
technologies has ever greater weight in
communication. But if on one hand this
entails undoubtedly positive aspects, on the
other hand, the image can also become
independent of reality; it can give life to
a virtual world, with several consequences,
the first of which is the risk of
indifference to truth.
In fact, the new technologies, together with
the progress they entail, can make the true
and the false interchangeable; they can
induce one to confuse the real with the
virtual. Moreover, the recording of an
event, joyful or sad, can be consumed as a
spectacle and not as an occasion for
reflection. The search for the paths of an
authentic promotion of man then takes second
place, because the event is presented
primarily to arouse emotions. These aspects
sound like an alarm bell: They invite
consideration of the danger that the virtual
draws away from reality and does not
stimulate the search for the true, for the
truth.
In this context, the Catholic press is
called, in a new way, to express to the
heights its potential and to give a reason
day in and day out for its mission that can
never be given up. The Church has a
facilitating element, since the Christian
faith has in common with communication a
fundamental structure: the fact that the
means and the message coincide; indeed, the
Son of God, the Incarnate Word, is at the
same time message of salvation and means
through which salvation is realized. And
this is not a simple concept, but a reality
accessible to all, also those who while
living as protagonists in the complexity of
the world, are capable of preserving the
intellectual honesty proper to the "little
ones" of the Gospel. Moreover the Church,
Mystical Body of Christ, present at the same
time everywhere, nourishes the capacity of
more fraternal and more human relations,
being a place of communion among believers
and, at the same time, a sign and instrument
of everyone's vocation to communion. Her
strength is Christ, and in his name she
"pursues" man on the roads of the world to
save him from the "mysterium iniquitatis,"
insidiously operating in him. The Catholic
press evokes more directly, as compared to
other means of communication, the value of
the written word. The Word of God has come
to men and has been given to us also through
a book, the Bible. The word continues to be
the fundamental instrument and, in a certain
sense, the constitutive instrument of
communication: It is used today under
various forms, and in the so-called
civilization of the image it also keeps its
entire value.
From these brief considerations, it seems
evident that the communicative challenge is,
for the Church and for all those who share
her mission, very involved. Christians
cannot ignore the crisis of faith that has
come to society, or simply trust that the
patrimony of the values transmitted in the
course of past centuries can continue
inspiring and shaping the future of the
human family. The idea of living "as if God
didn't exist" has shown itself to be deadly:
The world needs, rather, to live "as if God
existed," even if it does not have the
strength to believe; otherwise it will only
produce an "inhuman humanism."
My very dear brothers and sisters, whoever
works in the media, if he does not wish to
be "a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (1
Corinthians 13:1) -- as Saint Paul would say
-- must have well-rooted in himself the
underlying option that enables him to deal
with the things of the world placing God
always at the top of the scale of values.
The times we are living through -- despite
having a notable positive weight, because
the threads of history are in God's hands
and his eternal design is ever more revealed
-- are also marked by many shadows. Your
task, dear members of the Catholic press, is
to help contemporary man to orient himself
to Christ, only Savior, and to keep burning
the flame of hope in the world, to live
worthily our today and to build the future
appropriately.
Because of this I exhort you to constantly
renew your personal choice for Christ,
drinking from those spiritual resources that
the worldly mentality underestimates,
despite the fact they are valuable, more
than that, indispensable. Dear friends, I
encourage you to continue in your endeavor
that is not easy, and I accompany you with
my prayer, so that the Holy Spirit will
always make it fruitful. My blessing, full
of affection and gratitude, which I am
pleased to impart, intends to embrace all of
you here present and all those who work in
the Catholic press worldwide.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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