Vatican City, 18 January 2014 (VIS) –
This morning, on the ninetieth anniversary of the beginning of radio
transmissions and sixty years after the first television broadcasts
by the RAI (the Italian state broadcasting company), its
representatives were received in audience by the Pope who gave an
address on the value and needs of the public information service.
The Holy Father commented that the
collaboration between the Holy See and the RAI has made it possible
for Italians to have access over the years first to the words, then
also images of the Pope and events in the life of the Church, through
the work of two Vatican entities, Vatican Radio and the Vatican
Television Centre. He mentioned a number of events, including Vatican
Council II, the election of the pontiffs, the Jubilee 2000 and the
funeral of Blessed John Paul II. He also recalled a number of
productions of a religious nature by the RAI during the 1960s and
1970s, such as the film “Francis” by Liliana Cavani (1966) and
“The Acts of the Apostles” by Roberto Rossellini (1969), who
collaborated with the future cardinal archbishop of Milan, then Fr.
Carlo Maria Martini S.J.
The RAI, he said, “has been a witness
to processes of change in Italian society in its rapid
transformations, and has contributed in a special way to the process
of linguistic and cultural unification in Italy. … But recalling a
past rich in conquests requires of us a renewed sense of
responsibility for today and for tomorrow. I remind you all that your
profession is not only informative but also formative; it is a public
service, that is, a service for the common good. A service to truth,
a service to goodness, and a service to beauty. All the professions
that form the RAI … belong to an organisation that offers culture
and entertainment, information and shows, reaching a significant part
of the Italian people at any time of the day. It is a responsibility
from which those who offer a public service may not abdicate”.
Finally, the ethical quality of
communication “is the result, in the final analysis, of consciences
that are always attentive, never superficial, and always respectful
towards others, both those who are the object of the information, and
those who are intended to receive the messages. Everyone, in his own
role and with his own responsibility, must be mindful to maintain
high ethical standards in communication, and to avoid those things that
can cause so much damage: disinformation, defamation, and calumny”.
Pope Francis concluded by encouraging
the professionals in the field of communications to place themselves
“at the service of the human, cultural and civil growth of
society”.
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