Pope Leo XIV encourages communications using new technologies serve truth & the common good

 

International Seminar on Church Communication at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago 

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• Pope Leo XIV
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• Chile
• science and technology

Pope Leo XIV: Technology must serve truth and the common good

Pope Leo XIV encourages communicators at a seminar in Chile to promote communication that, in “the face of the new opportunities offered by technological development, knows how to safeguard the dignity of the human person."

By Giovanni Zavatta

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged communicators to ensure that every technological tool is placed "at the service of truth and the common good," as the Church reflects on the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence.

His message, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, was sent to participants in the Seventh International Seminar on Church Communication, taking place on 27-28 July at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago.

The seminar, entitled The Challenges of Artificial Intelligence, has brought together communicators, pastoral workers, academics and Church representatives from across Latin America and the Caribbean to reflect on the ethical, cultural and religious implications of artificial intelligence in light of Pope Leo XIV's Encyclical Magnifica humanitas.

Wisdom and responsibility in the age of AI

Addressing Archbishop René Osvaldo Rebolledo Salinas, President of the Chilean Bishops' Conference, the Pope expresses the hope that participants will promote "a communication that, in the face of the new opportunities offered by technological development, knows how to safeguard the dignity of the human person and place every tool at the service of truth and the common good."

Pope Leo also entrusts the seminar to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, praying that its participants may address the challenges posed by artificial intelligence "with wisdom and responsibility, so that ecclesial communication may foster encounter among people and contribute to the proclamation of the Gospel."

Social media as human spaces

Opening the seminar, Cardinal Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, reflected on the impact of social media, describing them as "truly human" spaces because they reflect emotions, relationships and conflicts.

"Everything that happens to us also happens there," he said, proposing four essential criteria for communication: truth, goodness, beauty and usefulness.

The Cardinal highlighted that Magnifica humanitas, dedicated to safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, should not be read solely from a technological perspective.

"Today there is much discussion about artificial intelligence," he noted, "but this Encyclical speaks above all about human dignity and truth."

Building Jerusalem, not Babel

Cardinal Chomalí said communication rooted in those principles can strengthen community life in an increasingly individualistic society.

"We will promote dialogue, we will promote fraternity; in the end, we will build Jerusalem, not Babel," he said.

The same themes were echoed in the homily he delivered during the Eucharistic celebration that followed. Describing Magnifica humanitas as a "Christological" Encyclical, he called for communication marked by discernment and expressed the hope that artificial intelligence would always remain at the service of human dignity.

A shared journey for the Church

Among the other speakers on the opening day were Juan Carlos de la Llera, Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and Archbishop Rebolledo Salinas, who described the gathering as a concrete expression of synodality and of the Church's shared journey.

He said the publication of Magnifica humanitas has given renewed depth to the Church's pastoral reflection on emerging technologies.

"The inviolable dignity of the human person must constitute the principle, the criterion and the ultimate goal of both technological development and scientific progress," he said.

On World Day of Social Communication, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that truth is most important

 

Pope

• Pope Leo XIV
• Regina Caeli
• appeal
• Dicastery for Communication
• media
• artificial intelligence

Pope: Communication must respect truth of human person

As the Church celebrates the 60th World Day of Social Communications, Pope Leo XIV encourages Catholics to help direct technological innovation toward the truth of the human person.

By Devin Watkins

The Catholic Church marked the 60th World Day of Social Communications on Sunday, May 17.

Speaking at the Regina Caeli prayer, Pope Leo XIV recalled the World Day and encouraged everyone to promote forms of communication that always respect the truth of the human person.

He pointed to the vast advances in technology in recent years regarding communication and called for technological innovation to be directed toward the good of humanity.

“I encourage everyone to commit themselves to promoting forms of communication that are always respectful of the truth of the human person, toward which every technological innovation should be directed,” he said.

Pope’s message for 60th World Communications Day

Pope Leo XIV released his Message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications on January 24, focused on the theme: “Preserving Human Voices and Faces.”

In his message, the Pope said faces and voices are sacred, since God created human beings in His image and likeness.

“Each of us possesses an irreplaceable and inimitable vocation, which originates from our own lived experience and becomes manifest through interaction with others,” he said.

However, he said, new digital technologies threaten our uniqueness by simulating voices, faces, and emotions.

“By simulating human voices and faces, wisdom and knowledge, consciousness and responsibility, empathy and friendship,” he said, “the systems known as artificial intelligence not only interfere with information ecosystems, but also encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human relationships.”

The real threat to humanity is our willingness to offload our ability to listen and think critically to AI and social-media algorithms, said the Pope in his message.

“We are thus robbed of the opportunity to encounter others, who are always different from ourselves, and with whom we can and must learn to relate,” he said. “Without embracing others, there can be no relationships or friendships.”

In response, Pope Leo XIV encouraged people to embrace responsibility, cooperation, and education in our interactions with AI and one another.

“The digital revolution requires digital literacy, along with humanistic and cultural education,” he said, “to understand how algorithms shape our perception of reality, how AI biases work, what mechanisms determine the presence of certain content in our feeds, what the economic principles and models of the AI economy are and how they might change.”

“We need faces and voices to speak for people again,” concluded Pope Leo’s message. “We need to cherish the gift of communication as the deepest truth of humanity, to which all technological innovation should also be oriented.”

Pope Leo XIV: Truth finds its identity in Jesus

 

Pope Leo XIV  (ANSA)

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Pope Leo XIV: Truth finds its identity in the person of Jesus Christ

In a letter commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Bolivian Catholic University “San Pablo,” Pope Leo reminds the academic institution that truth finds its identity in the person of Jesus Christ and reiterates that 'Veritas in Caritate' continues to serve as a criterion for academic and pastoral discernment.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

"In a cultural context marked by the fragmentation of knowledge, relativism, and the instrumentalization of understanding, [Benedict XVI's encyclical] Veritas in Caritate continues to serve as a criterion for academic and pastoral discernment, and as a demanding program for the future, in which you are called to be 'the light of the world'.”

Pope Leo XIV stressed this in the message he sent on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Bolivian Catholic University “San Pablo.”

The Pope began observing that commemorating sixty years allows us to recognize a fruitful trajectory of service to the Church and society.

He stressed that a university, in its deepest identity, "is not merely a center for technical training nor a mere space for producing utilitarian knowledge," but above all, 'an academic community which, in a rigorous and critical way, contributes to the protection and development of human dignity and cultural heritage...'"

True education must promote formation of human person

The Holy Father noted that universities exist to promote the integral formation of the person, since true education "aims at the formation of the human person in the pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of the societies of which, as man, he is a member..."

Within this horizon, he said, intellectual and moral faculties, responsible freedom, and commitment to the common good are "harmoniously cultivated," forming people capable of thinking "with rigour, dialoguing with openness, and acting with integrity."

Thus, Pope Leo said it is particularly meaningful to understand the academic institution's motto Veritas in Caritate, noting this expression is "an eloquent summary of the university’s mission, undertaken from the perspective of faith."

Truth finds its identity in the person of Jesus Christ

"For the Christian tradition," the Holy Father recalled that truth "is not merely an intellectual ideal or an abstract concept."

Rather, truth, he said, "finds its identity in the person of Jesus Christ Himself, who reveals Himself as the Truth, and who fully reveals man to himself and shows him his supreme vocation."

"From this perspective, truth sought with intellectual rigor and scientific honesty," he said, "finds in charity its horizon and ultimate criterion."

The reason for this, he noted, is that "for a Christian, speaking the truth is an act of love that builds up, heals, and guides the person toward fulfillment."

The Pope stressed how important it is to recognize that Truth has a personal and relational dimension.

Such recognition, he insisted, "preserves knowledge from becoming a tool of domination, exclusion, or mere utility," and instead "directs it toward the service of justice and the dignity of every human being, especially the most vulnerable."

Knowledge always at service of the human person

The Pope recalled that Veritas in Caritate expresses the vocation of an academic community that seeks to integrate knowledge and life, intellect and ethics, faith and reason, academic excellence and civic responsibility.

He stressed that research, teaching, and professional formation are not to be understood as services and not as self-referential ends, but as being "oriented toward the construction of a more humane, just, and transcendentally open society, where knowledge is always at the service of the person."

Pope Leo XIV concluded by encouraging them to let Veritas in Caritate guide their discernment and entrusting the academic, formative, and communal activities of the university to the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom.

By meeting with the Roman Rota, Pope Leo XIV stresses the important work of the tribunals of the Church

 

Pope Leo XIV receives officials of the Tribunal of Roman Rota for the inauguration of their judicial year  (@Vatican Media)

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Pope to Roman Rota: Justice and charity find harmony in mystery of God

Pope Leo XIV meets officials of the Tribunal of Roman Rota for the inauguration of their judicial year and urges them to safeguard the truth with rigor but without rigidity and to exercise charity without omission.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

"You are called to safeguard the truth with rigor but without rigidity, and to exercise charity without omission."

Pope Leo XIV made this invitation to the prelate auditors of the Tribunal of Roman Rota in the Vatican on Monday, as he inaugurated its Judicial Year.

The Tribunal of the Roman Rota ordinarily acts as an appellate court of higher instance at the Apostolic See, with the purpose of safeguarding rights within the Church. It fosters unity of jurisprudence and, by virtue of its decisions, provides assistance to lower tribunals.

The Tribunal also includes the Office competent to adjudicate the fact of the non-consummation of marriage and the existence of a just cause for granting dispensations. This Office is also competent to deal with cases of the nullity of sacred ordination, pursuant to the norm of universal and proper law, in accordance with the different cases. It has a collegiate structure and is composed of a certain number of judges of proven doctrine, competence, and experience selected by the Pope from various parts of the world.

Precious service

The Pope began by thanking them for their work, "which is a precious service to the universal judicial function that belongs to the Pope and in which the Lord has called you to share," noting that the expression “Veritatem facientes in caritate” (The truth in love) (Eph 4:15), "can be applied to your daily mission in the administration of justice."

He thanked those present in the audience and everyone working in Church tribunals throughout the world, noting, "The ministry of judge that I have had occasion to exercise enables me to understand your experience more deeply and to appreciate the ecclesial significance of your task."

Pope Leo then returned to a fundamental theme that has been central in the addresses delivered to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota from Pope Pius XII up to Pope Francis, concerning the relationship of their activity "with the truth that is intrinsic to justice."

"On this occasion," the Pope said, "I intend to offer you some reflections on the close bond that exists between the truth of justice and the virtue of charity," clarifying they "are not two opposing principles, nor values to be balanced according to purely pragmatic criteria, but two dimensions intrinsically united, which find their deepest harmony in the very mystery of God, who is Love and Truth."

This correlation, he stated, calls for constant and careful critical discernment, "since, in the exercise of judicial activity, a dialectical tension not infrequently emerges between the demands of objective truth and the concerns of charity."

A delicate balance

"At times," Pope Leo said, "there is the risk that excessive identification with the often-troubled circumstances of the faithful may lead to a dangerous relativization of the truth."

"Indeed, a misguided compassion, even when apparently motivated by pastoral zeal," Pope Leo said, "risks obscuring the necessary dimension of ascertaining the truth that is proper to the judicial office."

"This," he continued, "can occur not only in cases of matrimonial nullity—where it might lead to decisions of a pastoral character lacking a solid objective foundation—but also in any type of proceeding, thereby undermining its rigor and equity."

On the other hand, he cautioned, "there can sometimes be a cold and detached affirmation of the truth that fails to take into account all that love for persons requires, omitting those concerns dictated by respect and mercy, which must be present at every stage of a process."

In considering the relationship between truth and charity, Pope Leo insisted that St. Paul offered "clear guidance" when exhorting in his Letter to the Ephesians that, “Living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into Him who is the head, Christ.” 

"Veritatem facientes in caritate," Pope Leo reiterated, "does not mean merely conforming to a speculative truth, but “doing the truth,” that is, a truth that must illuminate the whole of one’s actions. And this must be done “in charity,” which is the great driving force that leads to the practice of true justice." 

Not a tension between opposing interests, but an instrument for discernment

The process, Pope Leo said, "is not in itself a tension between opposing interests, as is sometimes mistakenly thought, but the indispensable instrument for discerning truth and justice in a given case."

The Pope went on to discuss the adversarial nature of judicial proceedings, and delineated the rigorous elements needed to properly assess these delicate situations and to ascertain appropriately the truth.

"Failure to observe these basic principles of justice—and the fostering of unjustified disparities in the treatment of similar situations—constitutes a serious injury to the juridical dimension of ecclesial communion."

The Pope also addressed the shorter process for the declaration of matrimonial nullity before the diocesan Bishop.

Here, he said, "the apparently manifest nature of the ground of nullity that makes this procedure possible must be assessed with great care, without forgetting that it will be the duly conducted process itself that must confirm the existence of nullity or determine the need to have recourse to the ordinary process."

With all this in mind, the Holy Father underscored, "it therefore proves fundamental that the study and application of canonical matrimonial law continue with scientific seriousness and fidelity to the Magisterium."

Praying that the true wisdom of Christian law must be made manifest, Pope Leo XIV entrusted their work to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Speculum iustitiae, "the perfect model of truth in charity."

Archbishop of Oklahoma City hits home run in his call to respond to gender dysphoria with empathy but without compromising God's reality

 

Archbishop Coakley: Respond with love to those with gender dysphoria without compromising truth

By Jonah McKeown

St. Louis, Mo., May 4, 2023 / 08:00 am

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City in an interview this week called for responding to those experiencing gender dysphoria with empathy but without compromising on the reality of God’s creation of humanity as male and female. 

“We can show love and compassion and concern as a parent, as a pastor, as a friend, without jettisoning our commitment to the truth,” Coakley told Montse Alvarado of EWTN News In Depth. 

“I think we can show affection and tenderness and compassion without succumbing to the pressure and that parents often feel subjected to by a young person, a child whom they love very much, who is obviously suffering.”

Coakley released a pastoral letter April 30 on the topic titled “On the Unity of the Body and Soul: Accompanying Those Experiencing Gender Dysphoria.” Coakley said the letter, which was in the works for several months, came in response to questions from some Catholic school principals in his diocese who have faced questions about how to respond to, for example, children in Catholic schools wishing to identify as a different gender.

In his interview with EWTN News In Depth, Coakley said his document is “seeking a broader audience [of] parents, teachers, pastors, anyone who’s accompanying, working with young people.”

In the letter, Coakley spoke about the Church’s teaching on sex and gender, which is that God created humans male and female in his image, as composites of body and soul. 

In a section of the letter addressed directly to those experiencing gender dysphoria, Coakley said it is vital not to dismiss the pain experienced by people who feel they are the wrong gender and affirmed that “each person who identifies as transgendered is loved by God and is a person Jesus Christ died to redeem … As a Church, we want to walk alongside you as you struggle with gender dysphoria.”

“We must avoid the extremes: to ignore the pain of the person and dogmatically assert that biological sex is the end of the conversation or to jettison the truth of the body in the false hope of relieving pain,” Coakley wrote in his letter.

“A Catholic response must both affirm God-given sex and recognize the struggle of the person in front of us. It requires listening with empathy as well as extending the invitation to receive God’s gift of the sexed body.”

Addressing parents who are struggling to respond to a child experiencing gender dysphoria, Coakley advised them to be open and listen to their child’s struggles but also to seek counseling and not to adopt pronouns different from the child’s biological sex. 

Coakley encouraged a compassionate approach that does not discount what the child is feeling, saying Catholics must “insist on the doctrinal integrity of our position, but at the same time recognizing the importance of being understanding and listening to a child and where they’re hurting.”

“Don’t shy away from the opportunity to engage [your] sons and daughters on these topics … I think nothing can be lost by taking time to listen and to try to understand,” he said. 

Though he presents some scientific evidence to support the idea that children should not seek medical interventions to change their gender, Coakley said the letter was more focused on the Church’s teaching and how to stay true to it in a loving manner. 

“I think we can benefit by some clarity that science can give about the meaning of sex, biological sex, and where gender comes from and things of that sort. But our focus is really on the doctrinal foundations for a solid pastoral approach that is willing to speak the truth in love, and we can’t separate the two,” he said. 

Speaking on EWTN News In Depth, Coakley advised parents to be prepared to talk to their children about these issues, taking care to discern the timing of when a child might be ready to discuss them. 

“Parents need to be in communication with their sons and daughters, to be engaging them regularly and making time for not just this kind of conversation, but about the things that matter, things that are important. Any conversation, I think I say in here about gender should be just a small subset of conversations that need to be taking place in the family all the time.”

He also said he hopes other bishops will consider releasing similar guidance. 

“I’ve already heard from several bishops in the last 24 hours who have thanked me for this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them will find their own way to disseminate what I’ve tried to articulate in their own dioceses and in their own local settings,” he noted. 

“I think our priests and our parishes need the reassurance that this kind of guidance from a bishop can offer because they’re the ones that are on the front lines in their parishes dealing with this in a much more regular way than I am dealing with it.”

Lake Charles Bishop seeks to defend the truth in this essay

 

Bishop Provost: Answers to Questions in Troubled Times

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 03 March 2023

 

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Friday, March 3, 2023

Over the last few years, I have become increasingly aware of the concerns and puzzlement of Catholic Christians concerning Catholic teaching.   Most of this confusion is generated by, but not confined to, exposure to the media and ambiguous statements by some clergy who deviate from the truth.

For any of us, who love the Church and the authentic teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition, this is disconcerting.   That the Catholic faithful are being misled or sense a lack of clarity in fundamentals of doctrine, such as the Eucharistic Presence, what constitutes worthiness in the reception of Holy Communion, the indissolubility of sacramental marriage, the very definition of matrimony itself, the existence of hell, the nature of sin, the consequences of moral choice, and the authority of the Sacred Scriptures, is distressing to me, as a Bishop, and should be to any pastor, catechetical instructor, or Catholic parent.

As a pastor of many years, I am profoundly disturbed when statements casting doubts upon the faith and sowing confusion in the minds of the faithful are made by those who hold a teaching office in the Church.

In October of 1992, Pope St. John Paul II issued the Apostolic Constitution Fidei depositum, on the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.   In the opening sentence of the document, Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “Guarding the Deposit of Faith is the mission which the Lord entrusted to His Church, and which she fulfills in every age.”   The Holy Father later asked in the document that “… all the Church’s Pastors and the Christian faithful … receive this catechism in a spirit of communion and to use it assiduously in fulfilling their mission of proclaiming the faith and calling people to the Gospel life.   This catechism is given to them that it may be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching catholic doctrine….   It is also offered to all the faithful who wish to deepen their knowledge of the unfathomable riches of salvation (cf. Ephesians 3:8).”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church remains an indispensable source to assist in dispelling the confusion that exists today.  We should use it.   When questions arise, we should consult it.   When fundamental teachings are attacked, we should seek the correct answer by utilizing this rich resource.

The truths of the faith are not clarified by Church leaders in casual “tweets.”  Nor are they officially communicated by informal interviews granted to popular journalists as if this were a means of authentically teaching the faith.   These truths are certainly not treated fairly in the ravings of dubious theologians and self-proclaimed experts.  

Furthermore, the truths of the faith do not originate in one’s preferences or some trend-driven discernment presumed more enlightened.   The truths of the faith originate in the salvific Will of God, revealed fully in Jesus Christ, and are found in the authentic teaching of the Church, without prejudice and with abiding charity.   St. Paul wrote prophetically to St. Timothy: “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.   But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:3-5).   St. Paul understood well, for he saw it happening in his own day, that there is always a tendency to deviate from the truth.   The truth is compromised when our “own desires” take precedence.   The truth is not a matter of opinion.   Revealed truth by its very definition is a gift from God.  

St. Paul felt so strongly about this teaching that he addressed a scathing condemnation to those who pervert the truth of the Gospel: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed!   As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed!” (Galatians 1:8-9).

At moments such as these in our history, we must courageously live by the truth as revealed by God in Jesus Christ and taught by His Church down through the centuries.   The truths of our faith are a most prized possession.   We cannot dismiss them or view them as a human invention subject to revision.   We should approach them with respect and reverence, as having come from the font of Divine Revelation.   The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a most dependable and trustworthy articulation of these revealed truths.   And we have a serious obligation to ensure that the Deposit of Faith is communicated in all charity and with all the accuracy and brilliance that the truth deserves.  

Cardinal Parolin to EWTN: obligation to preach the truth

 

File photo of Cardinal Pietro Parolin 

VATICAN

• PIETRO PAROLIN
• MEDIA

Parolin to EWTN: ‘Truth distinguishes information from communication’

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin speaks at the EWTN Dinner in Frascati on Wednesday evening. We publish here the full text of his reflections under the theme: “The truth is what distinguishes information from communication”.

By Cardinal Pietro Parolin

Dear friends from EWTN,

I am grateful to you for inviting me to this gathering of your European affiliates. I greet your CEO Michael Warsaw, who is also a consultor of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication, and along with him, all those who work with you.

To communicate the salvific message of the Gospel, particularly through the Magisterium of the Successor of Peter, is a radical call, which is carried out today with new methods and new languages.

You have asked me to share a brief reflection on the theme “The truth is what distinguishes information from communication”.

Truth is a crucial theme for professionals in the field of communications such as yourselves. It is an issue which, in these past years, has become ever more prominent in public debate due to both the spread of the phenomenon of fake news as well as of a type of communication often based on a distorted, or false, representation of the other. This is a type of fanaticism grounded in the conviction that the truth that one believes is so absolute as to legitimize the destruction of another person, what communication experts term “character assassination”. This is done in order to impose one’s own view of truth upon everyone else. Instead, as Saint John Paul II observed in his message for the XXXV World Day for Peace, “even when the truth has been reached—and this can happen only in a limited and imperfect way—it can never be imposed”. Much less, therefore, can one’s own distorted representation of truth be imposed.

As Christians then, and this is certainly true for communications professionals, the perception of truth is not limited to a horizontal perspective, related merely to our social lives. There is a much more profound dimension. Truth, for us Christians, is a Person, the Person of Jesus Christ who, as Saint Paul says, holds all things together (cf. Col 1:17). It is this encounter that ensures that communication does not remain simply a profession which conveys information, but that understands and sets this responsibility within a broader horizon than the albeit important dissemination of news. It is this encounter, woven by love for the other, that creates that unity which holds all things together.

Here I would like to recall what your founder, Mother Angelica, used to say: “It is our duty to speak the truth, and each person can either assume or not assume this duty. But the truth must above all be within us”. We should always keep this statement in mind and have the same awareness: the truth does not belong to us – we serve the truth. And we can serve it only in love and in unity. We are its custodians, not its owners. The truth is in us if we are humble and have the courage to know how to welcome it, even if at times it does not present itself as we might expect.

How then should this love for the truth, this love for the Person of Jesus Christ, this love for the Church, be translated into your mission as professionals in the field of communications?

First of all, as Pope Francis has indicated many times, we can witness to this through our style of communication. In a message to the members of the Catholic Press Association in June of 2020, the Pontiff invited American Catholic media outlets to work for communion, even more so today, “in an age marked by conflicts and polarization from which the Catholic community itself is not immune. We need media”, the Pope continued, “capable of building bridges, defending life and breaking down the walls, visible and invisible, that prevent sincere dialogue and truthful communication between individuals and communities”. If we truly believe that “we are members one of another”, as Saint Paul exhorts us (Eph 4:25), we must then “lend the ear of the heart” toward others, without prejudice or exclusion. To borrow Saint John Henry Newman’s motto, our communication should “speak heart to heart”.

A large international news network, like EWTN, that invokes the Gospel message, is therefore called to promote understanding between people, dialogue between communities and the search for places and opportunities that create contact between distant worlds, sometimes in conflict with each other.

What the Apostle Peter asked of the first believers in the Risen Christ two thousand years ago is particularly relevant today, especially for those who carry out a task such as yours: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope”. But, he adds, “do so with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet 3:14-17). These words were certainly well-known to your founder. “You cannot go to Heaven hating someone”, Mother Angelica maintained. “Forgive now. Be compassionate now. Be patient and grateful now”. The means of communication, even more so if they purport to highlight their Catholic identity, must strive not to spread hate, but rather, to promote a non-hostile communication. The truth, and the values deriving from it, must be fearlessly upheld. This proclamation, however, should be formulated in a merciful style by those who patiently listen to the women and men of our time, who walk with them, even making themselves the interpreters of their suffering and their concerns.

“Communication” contains the root “communion”. Communion is in the DNA of communication, and is fundamentally its greatest aspiration. A communication that instead fans the flames of polarization, or builds walls instead of breaking them down, betrays its very nature. The proclamation of the truth cannot be separated from the exercise of charity. Saint John Paul II already advocated this in his Message for the XXV World Communications Day when, echoing Communio et Progressio published twenty years earlier, he observed that “if the media are to be effective means of fellowship and genuine human advancement, they must be channels and expressions of truth, justice and peace, good will and active charity, mutual help, love and communion”.

I would like to conclude with something particularly close to my heart. Catholic media, as you well know, has an important role in the task of the new evangelization. This is why it is good that they feel that they are an active part of the life of the Church, first of all by living in a spirit of communion with the Bishop of Rome. This is all the more urgent today in a time marked by overly-dramatic debates, also within the Church, which do not even spare the person and the Magisterium of the Pontiff. When Mother Angelica founded EWTN with tremendous courage and extraordinary creativity, she did so primarily to provide an instrument of good at the service of the Church and the Pope. This continues to be your greatest mission and reward – to be and to experience yourselves at the service of the Church and the Successor of Peter. As Saint John Paul II stated, recalling Jesus’ prayer for Peter (Lk 22:31), the mission entrusted to him by Jesus concerns the Church as it extends through the centuries and through human generations (cf. General Audience, 2 December 1992). The devil always seeks to sift us like wheat, but Jesus’ prayer for Peter and his successors is our anchor of salvation.

May this spirit of communion with the Pope be the distinctive sign of your work. May this be “felt” and “touched” in your television broadcasts, as well as in your articles and in your multimedia programmes. May every one of your viewers or readers recognize EWTN as a work of God at the service of the truth, ecclesial communion, and the good of humanity.