VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholic communicators need to make use of extra care and academic efforts to combat a situation where some media “turn out to be places of toxicity, hate speech and faux news,” Pope Francis said.
In a message to members of Signis, the World Catholic Association for Communication, the pope told Catholic communicators they’ve a very important role to play “through media education, networking Catholic media and countering lies and misinformation.”
The pope’s call to the Catholic communicators got here in a message to those that shall be attending the Signis World Congress in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 15-18 or participating online. The Vatican released the message July 18.
“Sometimes and in some places, media sites have turn out to be places of toxicity, hate speech and faux news,” the pope said.
The theme Signis selected for the gathering is “Peace within the Digital World.”
“In the course of the months of lockdown as a consequence of the (COVID-19) pandemic, we saw clearly how digital media could bring us together, not only by disseminating essential information but additionally by bridging the loneliness of isolation and, in lots of cases, uniting whole families and ecclesial communities in prayer and worship,” Pope Francis noted.
But, he said, digital media and, especially, some social media platforms have “raised a variety of serious ethical issues that decision for smart and discerning judgment on the a part of communicators and all those concerned with the authenticity and quality of human relationships.”
“Sometimes and in some places, media sites have turn out to be places of toxicity, hate speech and faux news,” the pope said.
“Communication isn’t only a occupation, but a service to dialogue and understanding between individuals and bigger communities within the pursuit of a serene and peaceful coexistence.”
Pope Francis urged Signis and other Catholic media professionals to double their efforts to “assist people, especially young people, to develop a sound critical sense, learning to differentiate truth from falsehood, right from fallacious, good from evil, and to understand the importance of working for justice, social concord and respect for our common home.”
Pointing to his message for World Communications Day 2022, the pope also urged members to do not forget that listening is “the primary and indispensable ingredient of dialogue and good communication.”
The “apostolate of listening” belongs to communicators greater than anyone else, he said, because “communication isn’t only a occupation, but a service to dialogue and understanding between individuals and bigger communities within the pursuit of a serene and peaceful coexistence.”
And, the pope said, because the church continues its journey toward a more “synodal church,” learning to listen and showing people the worth of listening is essential.
“It’s my hope that, in your communication, you’ll contribute to this process by assisting the holy and faithful people of God in our commitment to take heed to each other, to the Lord’s will and to grow in the attention that we take part in a communion that precedes and includes us,” he said. “In this fashion too, your efforts to foster ‘peace within the digital world’ will help to create an ever more ‘symphonic’ church, whose unity is expressed in a harmonious and sacred polyphony.”
