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Pope Benedict XVI - Messages |
"New Technologies, New Relationships, Promoting a Culture of
Respect, Dialogue and Friendship"
Message of the Holy Father Benedict XVI
For the 43rd World Communications Day
Released on January 24, 2009
To be observed on May 24, 2009
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
In anticipation of the forthcoming World Communications Day, I would
like to address to you some reflections on the theme chosen for this
year -- "New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a culture of
Respect, Dialogue and Friendship." The new digital technologies are,
indeed, bringing about fundamental shifts in patterns of
communication and human relationships. These changes are
particularly evident among those young people who have grown up with
the new technologies and are at home in a digital world that often
seems quite foreign to those of us who, as adults, have had to learn
to understand and appreciate the opportunities it has to offer for
communications. In this year’s message, I am conscious of those who
constitute the so-called digital generation and I would like to
share with them, in particular, some ideas concerning the
extraordinary potential of the new technologies, if they are used to
promote human understanding and solidarity. These technologies are
truly a gift to humanity and we must endeavour to ensure that the
benefits they offer are put at the service of all human individuals
and communities, especially those who are most disadvantaged and
vulnerable.
The accessibility of mobile telephones and computers, combined with
the global reach and penetration of the internet, has opened up a
range of means of communication that permit the almost instantaneous
communication of words and images across enormous distances and to
some of the most isolated corners of the world; something that would
have been unthinkable for previous generations. Young people, in
particular, have grasped the enormous capacity of the new media to
foster connectedness, communication and understanding between
individuals and communities, and they are turning to them as means
of communicating with existing friends, of meeting new friends, of
forming communities and networks, of seeking information and news,
and of sharing their ideas and opinions. Many benefits flow from
this new culture of communication: families are able to maintain
contact across great distances; students and researchers have more
immediate and easier access to documents, sources and scientific
discoveries, hence they can work collaboratively from different
locations; moreover, the interactive nature of many of the new media
facilitates more dynamic forms of learning and communication,
thereby contributing to social progress.
While the speed with which the new technologies have evolved in
terms of their efficiency and reliability is rightly a source of
wonder, their popularity with users should not surprise us, as they
respond to a fundamental desire of people to communicate and to
relate to each other. This desire for communication and friendship
is rooted in our very nature as human beings and cannot be
adequately understood as a response to technical innovations. In the
light of the biblical message, it should be seen primarily as a
reflection of our participation in the communicative and unifying
Love of God, who desires to make of all humanity one family. When we
find ourselves drawn towards other people, when we want to know more
about them and make ourselves known to them, we are responding to
God’s call – a call that is imprinted in our nature as beings
created in the image and likeness of God, the God of communication
and communion.
The desire for connectedness and the instinct for communication that
are so obvious in contemporary culture are best understood as modern
manifestations of the basic and enduring propensity of humans to
reach beyond themselves and to seek communion with others. In
reality, when we open ourselves to others, we are fulfilling our
deepest need and becoming more fully human. Loving is, in fact, what
we are designed for by our Creator. Naturally, I am not talking
about fleeting, shallow relationships, I am talking about the real
love that is at the very heart of Jesus’ moral teaching: "You must
love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
all your mind, and with all your strength" and "You must love your
neighbour as yourself" (cf. Mk 12:30-31). In this light, reflecting
on the significance of the new technologies, it is important to
focus not just on their undoubted capacity to foster contact between
people, but on the quality of the content that is put into
circulation using these means. I would encourage all people of good
will who are active in the emerging environment of digital
communication to commit themselves to promoting a culture of
respect, dialogue and friendship.
Those who are active in the production and dissemination of new
media content, therefore, should strive to respect the dignity and
worth of the human person. If the new technologies are to serve the
good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing
of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote
hatred and intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of
human sexuality or that exploit the weak and vulnerable.
The new technologies have also opened the way for dialogue between
people from different countries, cultures and religions. The new
digital arena, the so-called cyberspace, allows them to encounter
and to know each other’s traditions and values. Such encounters, if
they are to be fruitful, require honest and appropriate forms of
expression together with attentive and respectful listening. The
dialogue must be rooted in a genuine and mutual searching for truth
if it is to realize its potential to promote growth in understanding
and tolerance. Life is not just a succession of events or
experiences: it is a search for the true, the good and the
beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for
this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in
goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy. We must
not allow ourselves to be deceived by those who see us merely as
consumers in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where
choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and
subjective experience displaces truth.
The concept of friendship has enjoyed a renewed prominence in the
vocabulary of the new digital social networks that have emerged in
the last few years. The concept is one of the noblest achievements
of human culture. It is in and through our friendships that we grow
and develop as humans. For this reason, true friendship has always
been seen as one of the greatest goods any human person can
experience. We should be careful, therefore, never to trivialize the
concept or the experience of friendship. It would be sad if our
desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the
cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbours
and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work,
education and recreation. If the desire for virtual connectedness
becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals
from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of
rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human
development.
Friendship is a great human good, but it would be emptied of its
ultimate value if it were to be understood as an end in itself.
Friends should support and encourage each other in developing their
gifts and talents and in putting them at the service of the human
community. In this context, it is gratifying to note the emergence
of new digital networks that seek to promote human solidarity, peace
and justice, human rights and respect for human life and the good of
creation. These networks can facilitate forms of co-operation
between people from different geographical and cultural contexts
that enable them to deepen their common humanity and their sense of
shared responsibility for the good of all. We must, therefore,
strive to ensure that the digital world, where such networks can be
established, is a world that is truly open to all. It would be a
tragedy for the future of humanity if the new instruments of
communication, which permit the sharing of knowledge and information
in a more rapid and effective manner, were not made accessible to
those who are already economically and socially marginalized, or if
it should contribute only to increasing the gap separating the poor
from the new networks that are developing at the service of human
socialization and information.
I would like to conclude this message by addressing myself, in
particular, to young Catholic believers: to encourage them to bring
the witness of their faith to the digital world. Dear Brothers and
Sisters, I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new
environment of communications and information technology the values
on which you have built your lives. In the early life of the Church,
the great Apostles and their disciples brought the Good News of
Jesus to the Greek and Roman world. Just as, at that time, a
fruitful evangelization required that careful attention be given to
understanding the culture and customs of those pagan peoples so that
the truth of the gospel would touch their hearts and minds, so also
today, the proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies
requires a profound knowledge of this world if the technologies are
to serve our mission adequately. It falls, in particular, to young
people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of
communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization
of this "digital continent". Be sure to announce the Gospel to your
contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their
hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest
gift you can give to them is to share with them the "Good News" of a
God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all
people. Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures,
where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds
meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful
communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you
become its heralds! The Pope accompanies you with his prayers and
his blessing.
From the Vatican, 24 January 2009
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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