Friday, March 16, 2001

COUNCIL PONDERS DOCUMENT ON ETHICS AND THE INTERNET


VATICAN CITY, MAR 16, 2001 (VIS) - This morning in the Clementine Hall, John Paul II welcomed the participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. After remarks by council president, Archbishop John Foley, the Pope thanked the members "for all you are doing in support of the Church's diversified presence in the world of the media."

He also expressed his gratitude for the "specific contribution to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. ... The pontifical council rendered invaluable service by coordinating worldwide telecasts of many of the Holy Year ceremonies, and by offering professional and pastoral assistance to the thousands of men and women working in the fields of radio, television, the print media and photography."

"Over the years," the Pope went on, "the Pontifical Council for Social Communications has acquired a very positive experience of cooperation with the international media in bringing the important events of the Church's life to people in all parts of the world."

The Holy Father then commented on the council's document of June 2000, "Ethics in Communication," saying that it "sought to offer moral guidance regarding the use of the media, a varied and complex human reality in which ethical concerns are often subordinated to commercial interests. I am pleased that in these days you have been considering a similar document on the theme of 'Ethics in the Internet', which would indeed be timely, given the rapid spread of cyber-communications and the many moral questions involved. The Church cannot be a mere spectator of the social results of technological advances."

In concluding remarks, he affirmed that "the problems and opportunities created by new technology, by the process of globalization, by deregulation and privatization of the media present new ethical and indeed spiritual challenges to those who work in social communications. These challenges will be met effectively by those who accept that 'serving the human person, building up community, grounded in solidarity and justice and love, and speaking the truth about human life and its final fulfillment in God were, are and will remain at the heart of ethics in the media'."

At the end of the audience, Pope John Paul prayed the angelus with the participants. In an off-the-cuff remark, he said that "the angelus is the first communication, the most important communication in the history of mankind."

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