CATHOLIC WEEKLIES: THE VOICE OF SMALL COMMUNITIES

VATICAN CITY, NOV 25, 2006 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received representatives from the Italian Federation of Catholic Weeklies (FISC) who have just concluded a congress dedicated to the theme: "Catholics in political life, free or missing?"

  The Pope greeted Bishop Giuseppe Bertori, secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference, and Fr. Giorgio Zucchelli, president of the FISC, as well as the directors and staff of more than 160 diocesan newspapers. He also recalled how this year the FISC "is celebrating the fortieth anniversary of its foundation."

  The idea to create a federation of Catholic weeklies arose, said the Holy Father, "from a desire to make the Church's pastoral activity and presence more visible and incisive."

  The pages of diocesan newspapers give a picture "of the life of the Church and society in Italy," said the Pope, emphasizing the fact that "the special role of the Christian-inspired social communications media is to educate minds and to form public opinion in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel.

  "Their function," he added, "is to serve the truth courageously, helping public opinion to contemplate, understand and experience reality with the eyes of God. The aim of the diocesan newspaper is to give everyone a message of truth and hope, highlighting events and situations where the Gospel is put into practice, where goodness and truth triumph, and where man laboriously and imaginatively builds and rebuilds the fabric ... of small communities."

  "The rapid evolution of social communications and the advent of many forms of advanced technology in the media have not rendered your role ineffective," he went on. "Quite the contrary, in some ways it has become even more meaningful and important because it gives a voice to the local communities that are not adequately represented in the great information channels. ... You can reach those places where traditional pastoral care methods fail to arrive."

  "Your weekly publications are rightly described as 'papers of the people,' because they retain their link with the events and lives of people on the ground, transmitting the popular traditions and the rich cultural and religious heritage of your towns and cities."

  "Continue to ensure that your newspapers create a network facilitating relations ... between individual citizens and institutions, between associations, the various social groups, parishes and ecclesial movements. This is a service you can also undertake in the social and political field," the Holy Father concluded, "your weeklies can become significant 'meeting places' ... for lay faithful involved in the political and social fields, places in which to hold a dialogue and to discover convergence and shared aims in the service of the Gospel and the common good."
AC/FSCI/BERTORI:ZUCCHELLI                        VIS 20061127 (460)