VATICAN CITY, NOV. 16, 2004 (Zenit.org).- It is necessary to help television viewers gauge whether the shows they watch are in harmony with the Christian view of man and the world, warns John Paul II.
In fact, the critical formation of TV viewers is precisely one of the goals of the Italian Association of Television Viewers and Radio Listeners, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
In a message to the association, promoted by Catholic Action, the Pope said that “in our media society more insistence and courage is necessary to cultivate a taste for the beautiful, accompanying it with sensibility for the good and the true.”
The Holy Father exhorted that “it is indispensable to help the users, especially families, to make a mature use” of the television “to discern with balance and wisdom the programs that are in harmony with the Christian view of the world and man.”
The Pope added, in his message published by the Holy See last Friday, that “the legitimate needs of information and of the world of entertainment must be harmonized with the rights of individuals and families, without ever yielding to the illusions of those who wish to confuse truth with opinion, and taking care to avoid that all the most sacred and profound aspects of family life be exposed to spectacles and trivial vulgarization.”
