With words of the Gospel

“Making the best possible use of the opportunities at your disposal for disseminating the Word of God in the people in your respective countries”: that’s the encouragement addressed by Benedict XVI to the participants in the plenary assembly of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) which opened yesterday, 30 September, at Esztergom, in Hungary (until 3 October), on “Church and media for a common service to truth”. “In this year dedicated to the Apostle St. Paul, who expressed the truth of the Gospel in terms accessible to a wide and variegated audience – says the Pope in the message he sent to Cardinal Peter Erdő, Archbishop of Budapest and President of the CCEE – the ‘modern Areopaghi’ merit particular attention on the part of the Pastors of the Church”. So the Pope’s prayer is that “ways be found to guide those involved in the media to be even more respectful of the truth of information and the dignity of the human person”. The themes on the assembly’s order of the day include: Church and media, dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, dialogue between Christians and Muslims, collaboration with the African and Asian Churches, and the work of the European institutions. During the plenary the delegates will also elect the new CCEE secretary in succession of Mgr. Aldo Giordano, now permanent observer of the Holy See in Strasbourg.No to forms of “christianophobia”. In response to the emerging “christianophobia” in Europe and the world, “what is needed is greater responsibility on the part of the mass media”, which increasingly “influence attitudes, judgements and conduct in our societies”, urged Cardinal Peter Erdő in his opening address. “A priority of the Church in this field – he continued – should therefore be that of investing in education to train persons” with “critical capacity vis-à-vis the media” and able to “contribute to the transmission in the media of a genuine, and not bogus, image of the Church”. “A phenomenon that could be described as christianophobia – pointed out the cardinal – has for some years begun to emerge in Europe and in the world”. Condemning the persecutions, “to the point of martyrdom in some cases”, of the Christian communities in India, Pakistan, Iraq and Vietnam, towards which he expressed sentiments of solidarity, Cardinal Erdő then stressed that “it’s our task to protect – as far as is possible – our communities from other more devious forms of ‘christianophobia’ spread by the mass media” through “phenomena of denigration”, disinformation and the “pursuit of sensationalism”.The responsibility of the media. “It is justifiable to demand – said the cardinal – that any form of discrimination and intolerance against Christians in Europe and in the world should be tackled” by the international community and those responsible for the mass media “in the same way and with the same determination with which” forms of incitement to hatred “against other religious communities” are combated. This should especially take place “through the protection of the right to religious freedom, an inalienable right of every human person”. But what’s also needed is “greater responsibility on the part of the mass media” that increasingly “influence attitudes, judgements and conduct in our societies”. The CCEE President then recalled “the service of the CCEE”, aimed at intensifying the “network of the common good” and “the communion between the Bishops’ Conferences” so as to contribute to the cultural renewal of Europe”, from the “culture of life” and “the dignity of the person to solidarity and subsidiarity”.Educational commitment. During the press conference held in Budapest yesterday morning to present the assembly, Cardinal Erdő had emphasized that “communication”, following the example of St. Paul, “is today only another name for mission, i.e. the commitment to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the world with the new technologies”. “We need – the cardinal had added – to restore thought to the mechanism of communication because too often rationality is sidelined and the emphasis placed instead on the emotions. In this context the written text as the medium for the expression of thought needs to be revived”. Calling for “a form of professional training that is not only technical but has humanistic, theological and ecclesial foundations”, the CCEE President had further underlined the need for “an educational commitment that would also speak to people’s conscience, so that even in the reality of the media it would know how to distinguish good from evil in the light of the Christian faith the and the inalienable values” of the human person. “Many Bishops’ Conferences are already working in these two directions, concluded the cardinal, also referring to the CCEE survey that would be presented today. This confirms that the Church, even in the complexity of the media, does not evade her responsibility to indicate the path of truth and contribute to the reawakening of conscience”.