THE GOSPEL AND THE MEDIA

JESUS IS THE ANSWER

In every age the Church offers the one ultimately satisfying answer to the deepest questions of the human heart — Jesus Christ Himself... The voice of Christians can never fall silent, for the Lord has entrusted to us the word of salvation for which every human heart longs. The Gospel offers the pearl of great price for which all are searching (cf. Mt 13:45-46).

THE GROWTH AND INFLUENCE OF THE MEDIA

It follows that the Church cannot fail to be ever more deeply involved in the burgeoning world of communications. The global communications network is extending and growing more complex by the day, and the media are having an increasingly visible effect on culture and its transmission. Where once the media reported events, now events are often shaped to meet the requirements of the media.

HOSTILITY TO CHRISTIAN FAITH AND MORALITY

The world of the media can sometimes seem indifferent and even hostile to Christian faith and morality. This is partly because media culture is so deeply imbued with a typically postmodern sense that the only absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths or that, if there were, they would be inaccessible to human reason and therefore irrelevant.

DON'T RETREAT

The world of the media can sometimes seem no more friendly an environment for evangelization than the pagan world of the Apostles' day. But just as the early witnesses to the Good News did not retreat when faced with opposition, neither should Christ's followers do so today. The cry of Saint Paul echoes among us still: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16).

"BEYOND THE WILDEST IMAGININGS"

The media ... also offers unique opportunities for proclaiming the saving truth of Christ to the whole human family... Such a wide audience would have been beyond the wildest imaginings of those who preached the Gospel before us.

OPEN THE DOORS TO CHRIST

What is ... needed in our time is an active and imaginative engagement of the media by the Church. Catholics should not be afraid to throw open the doors of social communications to Christ, so that His Good News may be heard from the housetops of the world!

"THE GLORIOUS TRUTH"

Christian communicators have "a prophetic task, a vocation: to speak out against the false gods and idols of the day — materialism, hedonism, consumerism, narrow nationalism..." (Ethics in Communication, 31). Above all, they have the duty and privilege to declare the truth—the glorious truth about human life and human destiny revealed in the Word made flesh.

THE LOVE OF JESUS

May Catholics involved in the world of social communications preach the truth of Jesus ever more boldly and joyfully..., so that all men and women may hear about the love which is the heart of God's self-communication in Jesus Christ...

(Source: Message for World Communications Day, May 27, 2001, issued January 24, 2001)