VATICAN CITY, NOV. 29, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is underlining the need to give a voice to the Church in the realm of social communications and the media.
The Pope stated this today upon receiving in audience the Filipino bishops who are in Rome for their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.
“A specific area in which the Church must always find its proper voice comes in the field of social communications and the media,” the Pontiff stated.
He continued, “The task set before the whole Catholic community is to convey a hope-filled vision of faith and virtue so that Filipinos may find encouragement and guidance on their path to a full life in Christ.”
“A unified and positive voice needs to be presented to the public in forms of media both old and new,” the Holy Father urged, “so that the Gospel message may have an ever more powerful impact on the people of the nation.”
“It is important that the Catholic laity proficient in social communications take their proper place in proposing the Christian message in a convincing and attractive way,” he said.
“If the Gospel of Christ is to be a leaven in Filipino society, then the entire Catholic community must be attentive to the force of the truth proclaimed with love,” Benedict XVI stated.
Witness
“The Church must always seek to find its proper voice,” he affirmed, “because it is by proclamation that the Gospel brings about its life-changing fruits.”
The Pope continued: “This voice expresses itself in the moral and spiritual witness of the lives of believers.
“It also expresses itself in the public witness offered by the bishops, as the Church’s primary teachers, and by all who have a role in teaching the faith to others.”
He added, “Thanks to the Gospel’s clear presentation of the truth about God and man, generations of zealous Filipino clergymen, religious and laity have promoted an ever more just social order.”
The Pontiff commended “the Church in the Philippines for seeking to play its part in support of human life from conception until natural death, and in defense of the integrity of marriage and the family.”
“In these areas you are promoting truths about the human person and about society which arise not only from divine revelation but also from the natural law, an order which is accessible to human reason and thus provides a basis for dialogue and deeper discernment on the part of all people of good will,” he affirmed.
The Holy Father particularly noted “with appreciation the Church’s work to abolish the death penalty in your country.”
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On ZENIT’s Web page:
Full text: www.zenit.org/article-31093?l=english
