VATICAN CITY (CNS): Modern mass media too often encourage negative family trends, uncritically depicting infidelity and giving “positive support” to divorce, abortion and homosexuality, Pope John Paul II said.
The Pope, in an annual message for World Communications Day, called on parents, communicators and public authorities to fight what he termed an agenda “hostile” to family values – but without resorting to censorship.
The Pope’s message on the theme, “The Media in the Family: A Risk and a Richness”, was released at the Vatican on January 24. It was designed to prompt reflection ahead of World Communications Day, which will be marked in most Australian dioceses this year on May 9.
The Pope said today’s global reach of mass media offers virtually unlimited opportunities for families in terms of education, cultural expansion and even spiritual growth.
Professional communicators should show courage in resisting commercial pressures or the demands of secular ideologies, he said.
The Pope said parents, as their children’s primary educators, have a special responsibility to teach them not to uncritically accept or imitate what they see depicted in the media.
