TO THE MEDIA: ALWAYS REMEMBER THE COMMON GOOD

VATICAN CITY, NOV 27, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope received 3,500 participants in the Jubilee of RAI (Italian State radio and television) whom he thanked for their service, especially during the Holy Year for which they have created a television channel called RAI-Jubilee.

"Yours is truly a workshop of words and images," said John Paul II. "You are communications workers, key operators in the common task of building a society tailored to man. In this important professional duty always look to the common good, never giving in to purely economic interests."

The Pope highlighted the responsibility that believers who work in television have because, by their witness, "they can influence the complex mechanisms of the formation of civil and social consciousness. This is not an easy mission, it calls for courage and, not infrequently, heroism. At times it is necessary to go against the tide, perhaps undergoing solitude, incomprehension and marginalization."

The Holy Father indicated that Christians must respond to the culture of ephemeral values "with a solid culture of life, of solidarity, of the family and of human rights."

The Church, he added, "never tires of recalling the moral dimension of communication. She stimulates, invites and encourages those who work in social communications to enter into a relationship with individuals that is both correct and respectful. ... Television programming, with sedate and balanced openness, must also tackle the basic problems of existence, leaving the door open to solutions illuminated by sound reason and by faith."

John Paul II concluded by highlighting that, in preparing for their Jubilee, those present had wished to make "a concrete gesture of solidarity, collecting a sum of money destined to ransoming child-soldiers in Sierra Leone." In this way, you contribute "to sensitizing public opinion to one of the gravest social problems of our time, one that strikes infancy and prejudices its future."

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