Meeting with Representatives of the Media of Social Communication (2 November 1982)

On Tuesday, 2 November 1982, the Holy Father met with representatives of the communications media, to whom he spoke of what he, as a communicator, had in common with them. “It is up to me, in a singular way, to transmit to humanity the Good News of the Gospel and, with it, the message of love, justice and peace of Christ.”

Dear friends, representatives of the media.

1. First of all, receive my cordial greeting, full of esteem for the very important role you play in modern society.

Tomorrow I will briefly meet the numerous journalists and television professionals who spread information regarding my trip to Spain. Now I want to talk to you, who represent the planning, collection and dissemination centers of the intense activity that takes place in the complex world of communication, in the various aspects in which it stands out. A world that is of capital importance in the life of our time, due to the breadth and delicacy of the phenomenon to which it refers.

In fact, through the bodies that depend on you, it is possible for you to collect and measure the pulse of our societies, transmitting this "everyday story", and doing so, in part, to many millions of people. It is a fact that has become habitual to us , but which does not make it any less spectacular. Today's world is often an immense audience, a single audience, gathered around the same cultural, sporting, political and religious events.

Information and culture have created the need to empower themselves, and you dedicate yourselves to this beautiful task. Yours is a service of incalculable importance, for the enormous possibilities it contains and for the need not to limit oneself to informing, but to promote the assets of intelligence, culture and coexistence, at the same time creating a correct public opinion, thus as the Second Vatican Council hopes (cf. Inter Mirifica , 8).

2. I uttered a well-thought-out word: service . Because with your work you effectively serve and must serve the cause of man in his totality: his body, his spirit, his need for honest leisure, for cultural and religious nourishment, for a correct moral criterion for his individual life and social.

It is a noble mission, which elevates those who live it worthily, because it offers a very valid contribution to the good of society, to its balance and its development. For this reason the Church attributes so much importance to the sector of social communication and the transmission of culture. For this reason you do not hesitate to invite Christians to acquire the necessary technical competence, and to work with an honest conscience in such a delicate field, where such high values ​​are at stake.

While I make these reflections with you, I cannot help but think that there are many things in common between your mission and mine, as you and I are servants of communication between men. It is up to me, in a singular way, to transmit to humanity the Good News of the Gospel and, with it, the message of love, justice and peace of Christ. These are values ​​that you can greatly encourage with your effort to build a more united, peaceful, humane world, where truth and morality shine.

3. It is logical that a sector which so closely concerns the information and education of people and public opinion has urgent ethical needs. It is necessary that those who dedicate themselves to communication "know the norms of the moral law and faithfully observe them in this sector" (Ibid . 4), and that "information is always truthful", respecting "strictly the moral laws, rights and the dignity of man” (Ibid. 5).

Thus, in a non-reductive anthropological dimension, it will be possible to offer a communication service that responds to the profound truth of man. In this dimension the norms of professional ethics will find the reasons for convergence with the Truth that Christianity contains.

The search for the indispensable truth requires constant effort and requires placing oneself at the appropriate level of knowledge and critical selection. It's not easy, we know it well. Every man carries within him his own ideas, preferences and even prejudices. But whoever is responsible for communication cannot shield himself from what is usually called impossible objectivity . If complete and total objectivity is difficult, however, the effort to discover the truth , the decision to offer the truth , the habit of not manipulating the truth , the attitude of incorruptibility in the face of the truth is not. With the sole guidance of an upright ethical conscience, without giving in for reasons of false prestige, personal, political, economic or partisan interest.

4. There are numerous ethics texts for people in your profession, most of which are developed with great moral sensitivity. They urge us to respect the truth, to defend legitimate professional secrecy, to shun sensationalism, to carefully evaluate the importance of the moral education of childhood and youth, to promote coexistence in the legitimate pluralism of persons, groups and peoples .

I also encourage you to think about these issues not as protagonists of communication, but as users, as listeners. Think of your families and children, who themselves receive a large number of messages; some of these do not edify, do not build, but instead transmit a degraded idea of ​​man and his dignity, perhaps in the name of sexual permissiveness, fashionable ideology, an anti-religious criticism full of old resentments, or a certain condescension in the face of phenomena such as violence.

Never forget that the moral conduct of many men and women, in your nation and also outside it, sometimes depends, at least to a large extent, on your actions. Reasons of merit and recrimination will depend on your behavior, on the "product" that you accept, that you ask of your collaborators or that you offer. And it will never be something exempt from a moral evaluation before God, your conscience and society.

5. I cannot end this conversation without addressing a more particular word to the Catholic priests, religious and lay people present here, responsible for Church communication bodies in various fields.

You know that your Pastors follow this precious activity with interest and affection, which is indispensable so that the voice of the Church can be heard in public opinion, through the means of communication and culture created by the Hierarchy itself, by some religious family or by Catholic groups.

Many times, due to your concrete condition and the medium in which you work, the recipients of your services may think that in one way or another you are the voice of the Church or of your Prelates. This places greater responsibility on you. For this reason you must refine your sensitivity so that it, with an attitude of love for the Church and loyal collaboration with it, can fully identify with the authentic voice of the Magisterium in fundamental, dogmatic and moral questions. Only in this way can constructive work be done, only in this way can we avoid dissolving the Christian message and confusing the faithful with unacceptable positions or destructive criticism.

6. Dear friends: allow me, with profound esteem and respect for your just freedom, to encourage you in your elevated human and Christian mission, as servants of man, son of God and, more and more every day, citizen of the world. The Church appreciates and respects your work. You also ask for respect for the vast communications sector.

God bless your fundamental work and your life. This is my prayer for you, for your families and for all those who serve the dignity of man in the noble cause of truth.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana