Papal Message for World
Communications Day 2008
"Many People Now Think There Is a Need for 'Info-Ethics'"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 24, 2008 - Here is the text of Benedict XVI's
message for World Communications Day, to be celebrated May 4.
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI 42nd WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY
Sunday, 4 May 2008
The Media: At the Crossroads between Self-Promotion and Service.
Searching for the Truth in order to Share it with Others.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. The theme of this year's World Communications Day - "The Media: At
the Crossroads between Self-Promotion and Service. Searching for the
Truth in order to Share it with Others" - sheds light on the important
role of the media in the life of individuals and society. Truly, there
is no area of human experience, especially given the vast phenomenon of
globalization, in which the media have not become an integral part of
interpersonal relations and of social, economic, political and
religious development. As I said in my Message for this year's World
Day of Peace (1 January 2008): "The social communications media, in
particular, because of their educational potential, have a special
responsibility for promoting respect for the family, making clear its
expectations and rights, and presenting all its beauty" (No. 5).
2. In view of their meteoric technological evolution, the media have
acquired extraordinary potential, while raising new and hitherto
unimaginable questions and problems. There is no denying the
contribution they can make to the diffusion of news, to knowledge of
facts and to the dissemination of information: they have played a
decisive part, for example, in the spread of literacy and in
socialization, as well as the development of democracy and dialogue
among peoples. Without their contribution it would truly be difficult
to foster and strengthen understanding between nations, to breathe life
into peace dialogues around the globe, to guarantee the primary good of
access to information, while at the same time ensuring the free
circulation of ideas, especially those promoting the ideals of
solidarity and social justice. Indeed, the media, taken overall, are
not only vehicles for spreading ideas: they can and should also be
instruments at the service of a world of greater justice and
solidarity. Unfortunately, though, they risk being transformed into
systems aimed at subjecting humanity to agendas dictated by the
dominant interests of the day. This is what happens when communication
is used for ideological purposes or for the aggressive advertising of
consumer products. While claiming to represent reality, it can tend to
legitimize or impose distorted models of personal, family or social
life. Moreover, in order to attract listeners and increase the size of
audiences, it does not hesitate at times to have recourse to vulgarity
and violence, and to overstep the mark. The media can also present and
support models of development which serve to increase rather than
reduce the technological divide between rich and poor countries.
3. Humanity today is at a crossroads. One could properly apply to the
media what I wrote in the Encyclical Spe Salvi concerning the ambiguity
of progress, which offers new possibilities for good, but at the same
time opens up appalling possibilities for evil that formerly did not
exist (cf. No. 22). We must ask, therefore, whether it is wise to allow
the instruments of social communication to be exploited for
indiscriminate "self-promotion" or to end up in the hands of those who
use them to manipulate consciences. Should it not be a priority to
ensure that they remain at the service of the person and of the common
good, and that they foster "man's ethical formation ... man's inner
growth" (ibid.)? Their extraordinary impact on the lives of individuals
and on society is widely acknowledged, yet today it is necessary to
stress the radical shift, one might even say the complete change of
role, that they are currently undergoing. Today, communication seems
increasingly to claim not simply to represent reality, but to determine
it, owing to the power and the force of suggestion that it possesses.
It is clear, for example, that in certain situations the media are used
not for the proper purpose of disseminating information, but to
"create" events. This dangerous change in function has been noted with
concern by many Church leaders. Precisely because we are dealing with
realities that have a profound effect on all those dimensions of human
life (moral, intellectual, religious, relational, affective, cultural)
in which the good of the person is at stake, we must stress that not
everything that is technically possible is also ethically permissible.
Hence, the impact of the communications media on modern life raises
unavoidable questions, which require choices and solutions that can no
longer be deferred.
4. The role that the means of social communication have acquired in
society must now be considered an integral part of the
"anthropological" question that is emerging as the key challenge of the
third millennium. Just as we see happening in areas such as human life,
marriage and the family, and in the great contemporary issues of peace,
justice and protection of creation, so too in the sector of social
communications there are essential dimensions of the human person and
the truth concerning the human person coming into play. When
communication loses its ethical underpinning and eludes society's
control, it ends up no longer taking into account the centrality and
inviolable dignity of the human person. As a result it risks exercising
a negative influence on people's consciences and choices and
definitively conditioning their freedom and their very lives. For this
reason it is essential that social communications should assiduously
defend the person and fully respect human dignity. Many people now
think there is a need, in this sphere, for "info-ethics", just as we
have bioethics in the field of medicine and in scientific research
linked to life.
5. The media must avoid becoming spokesmen for economic materialism and
ethical relativism, true scourges of our time. Instead, they can and
must contribute to making known the truth about humanity, and defending
it against those who tend to deny or destroy it. One might even say
that seeking and presenting the truth about humanity constitutes the
highest vocation of social communication. Utilizing for this purpose
the many refined and engaging techniques that the media have at their
disposal is an exciting task, entrusted in the first place to managers
and operators in the sector. Yet it is a task which to some degree
concerns us all, because we are all consumers and operators of social
communications in this era of globalization. The new media -
telecommunications and internet in particular - are changing the very
face of communication; perhaps this is a valuable opportunity to
reshape it, to make more visible, as my venerable predecessor Pope John
Paul II said, the essential and indispensable elements of the truth
about the human person (cf. Apostolic Letter The Rapid Development, 10).
6. Man thirsts for truth, he seeks truth; this fact is illustrated by
the attention and the success achieved by so many publications,
programmes or quality fiction in which the truth, beauty and greatness
of the person, including the religious dimension of the person, are
acknowledged and favourably presented. Jesus said: "You will know the
truth and the truth will make you free" (Jn 8:32). The truth which
makes us free is Christ, because only he can respond fully to the
thirst for life and love that is present in the human heart. Those who
have encountered him and have enthusiastically welcomed his message
experience the irrepressible desire to share and communicate this
truth. As Saint John writes, "That which was from the beginning, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life ... we
proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are
writing this that our joy may be complete" (1 Jn 1:1-3).
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to raise up courageous communicators and
authentic witnesses to the truth, faithful to Christ's mandate and
enthusiastic for the message of the faith, communicators who will
"interpret modern cultural needs, committing themselves to approaching
the communications age not as a time of alienation and confusion, but
as a valuable time for the quest for the truth and for developing
communion between persons and peoples" (John Paul II, Address to the
Conference for those working in Communications and Culture, 9 November
2002).
With these wishes, I cordially impart my Blessing to all.
From the Vatican, 24 January 2008, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales.
BENEDICTUS XVI