| PONTIFICAL
COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS
THE CHURCH AND INTERNET
I.
Introduction
II. Opportunities and challenges
III. Recommendations and conclusion
I.
INTRODUCTION
1. The Church's interest in the Internet is a particular expression of
her longstanding interest in the media of social communication. Seeing
the media as an outcome of the historical scientific process by which
humankind “advances further and further in the discovery of the
resources and values contained in the whole of creation”,1 the Church
often has declared her conviction that they are, in the words of the Second
Vatican Council, “marvellous technical inventions” 2 that
already do much to meet human needs and may yet do even more.
Thus the Church has taken a fundamentally positive approach to the media.3
Even when condemning serious abuses, documents of this Pontifical Council
for Social Communications have been at pains to make it clear that “a
merely censorious attitude on the part of the Church...is neither sufficient
nor appropriate”.4
Quoting Pope Pius XII's 1957 encyclical letter Miranda Prorsus, the Pastoral
Instruction on the Means of Social Communication Communio et Progressio,
published in 1971, underlined that point: “The Church sees these
media as ‘gifts of God' which, in accordance with his providential
design, unite men in brotherhood and so help them to cooperate with his
plan for their salvation”.5 This remains our view, and it is the
view we take of the Internet.
2. As the Church understands it, the history of human communication is
something like a long journey, bringing humanity “from the pride-driven
project of Babel and the collapse into confusion and mutual incomprehension
to which it gave rise (cf. Gen 11:1-9), to Pentecost and the gift of tongues:
a restoration of communication, centered on Jesus, through the action
of the Holy Spirit”.6 In the life, death, and resurrection of Christ,
“communication among men found its highest ideal and supreme example
in God who had become man and brother”.7
The modern media of social communication are cultural factors that play
a role in this story. As the Second Vatican Council remarks, “although
we must be careful to distinguish earthly progress clearly from the increase
of the kingdom of Christ”, nevertheless “such progress is
of vital concern to the kingdom of God, insofar as it can contribute to
the better ordering of human society”.8 Considering the media of
social communication in this light, we see that they “contribute
greatly to the enlargement and enrichment of men's minds and to the propagation
and consolidation of the kingdom of God”.9
Today this applies in a special way to the Internet, which is helping
bring about revolutionary changes in commerce, education, politics, journalism,
the relationship of nation to nation and culture to culture—changes
not just in how people communicate but in how they understand their lives.
In a companion document, Ethics in Internet, we discuss these matters
in their ethical dimension.10 Here we consider the Internet's implications
for religion and especially for the Catholic Church.
3. The Church has a two-fold aim in regard to the media. One aspect is
to encourage their right development and right use for the sake of human
development, justice, and peace—for the upbuilding of society at
the local, national, and community levels in light of the common good
and in a spirit of solidarity. Considering the great importance of social
communications, the Church seeks “honest and respectful dialogue
with those responsible for the communications media”—a dialogue
that relates primarily to the shaping of media policy.11 “On the
Church's side this dialogue involves efforts to understand the media—their
purposes, procedures, forms and genres, internal structures and modalities—and
to offer support and encouragement to those involved in media work. On
the basis of this sympathetic understanding and support, it becomes possible
to offer meaningful proposals for removing obstacles to human progress
and the proclamation of the Gospel”.12
But the Church's concern also relates to communication in and by the Church
herself. Such communication is more than just an exercise in technique,
for it “finds its starting point in the communion of love among
the divine Persons and their communication with us”, and in the
realization that Trinitarian communication “reaches out to humankind:
The Son is the Word, eternally ‘spoken' by the Father; and in and
through Jesus Christ, Son and Word made flesh, God communicates himself
and his salvation to women and men”.13
God continues to communicate with humanity through the Church, the bearer
and custodian of his revelation, to whose living teaching office alone
he has entrusted the task of authentically interpreting his word.14 Moreover,
the Church herself is a communio, a communion of persons and eucharistic
communities arising from and mirroring the communion of the Trinity;15
communication therefore is of the essence of the Church. This, more than
any other reason, is why “the Church's practice of communication
should be exemplary, reflecting the highest standards of truthfulness,
accountability, sensitivity to human rights, and other relevant principles
and norms”.16
4. Three decades ago Communio et Progressio pointed out that “modern
media offer new ways of confronting people with the message of the Gospel”.17
Pope Paul VI said the Church “would feel guilty before the Lord”
if it failed to use the media for evangelization.18 Pope John Paul II
has called the media “the first Areopagus of the modern age”,
and declared that “it is not enough to use the media simply to spread
the Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. It is also
necessary to integrate that message into the ‘new culture' created
by modern communications”.19 Doing that is all the more important
today, since not only do the media now strongly influence what people
think about life but also to a great extent “human experience itself
is an experience of media”.20
All this applies to the Internet. And even though the world of social
communications “may at times seem at odds with the Christian message,
it also offers unique opportunities for proclaiming the saving truth of
Christ to the whole human family. Consider...the positive capacities of
the Internet to carry religious information and teaching beyond all barriers
and frontiers. Such a wide audience would have been beyond the wildest
imaginings of those who preached the Gospel before us...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”.21
II.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
5. “Communication in and by the Church is essentially communication
of the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is the proclamation of the Gospel
as a prophetic, liberating word to the men and women of our times; it
is testimony, in the face of radical secularization, to divine truth and
to the transcendent destiny of the human person; it is witness given in
solidarity with all believers against conflict and division, to justice
and communion among peoples, nations, and cultures”.22
Since announcing the Good News to people formed by a media culture requires
taking carefully into account the special characteristics of the media
themselves, the Church now needs to understand the Internet. This is necessary
in order to communicate effectively with people—especially young
people—who are steeped in the experience of this new technology,
and also in order to use it well.
The media offer important benefits and advantages from a religious perspective:
“They carry news and information about religious events, ideas,
and personalities; they serve as vehicles for evangelization and catechesis.
Day in and day out, they provide inspiration, encouragement, and opportunities
for worship to persons confined to their homes or to institutions”.23
But over and above these, there also are benefits more or less peculiar
to the Internet. It offers people direct and immediate access to important
religious and spiritual resources—great libraries and museums and
places of worship, the teaching documents of the Magisterium, the writings
of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and the religious wisdom of the
ages. It has a remarkable capacity to overcome distance and isolation,
bringing people into contact with like-minded persons of good will who
join in virtual communities of faith to encourage and support one another.
The Church can perform an important service to Catholics and non-Catholics
alike by the selection and transmission of useful data in this medium.
The Internet is relevant to many activities and programs of the Church—
evangelization, including both re-evangelization and new evangelization
and the traditional missionary work ad gentes, catechesis and other kinds
of education, news and information, apologetics, governance and administration,
and some forms of pastoral counseling and spiritual direction. Although
the virtual reality of cyberspace cannot substitute for real interpersonal
community, the incarnational reality of the sacraments and the liturgy,
or the immediate and direct proclamation of the gospel, it can complement
them, attract people to a fuller experience of the life of faith, and
enrich the religious lives of users. It also provides the Church with
a means for communicating with particular groups—young people and
young adults, the elderly and home-bound, persons living in remote areas,
the members of other religious bodies—who otherwise may be difficult
to reach.
A growing number of parishes, dioceses, religious congregations, and church-related
institutions, programs, and organizations of all kinds now make effective
use of the Internet for these and other purposes. Creative projects under
Church sponsorship exist in some places on the national and regional levels.
The Holy See has been active in this area for several years and is continuing
to expand and develop its Internet presence. Church-related groups that
have not yet taken steps to enter cyberspace are encouraged to look into
the possibility of doing so at an early date. We strongly recommend the
exchange of ideas and information about the Internet among those with
experience in the field and those who are newcomers.
6. The Church also needs to understand and use the Internet as a tool
of internal communications. This requires keeping clearly in view its
special character as a direct, immediate, interactive, and participatory
medium.
Already, the two-way interactivity of the Internet is blurring the old
distinction between those who communicate and those who receive what is
communicated,24 and creating a situation in which, potentially at least,
everyone can do both. This is not the one-way, top-down communication
of the past. As more and more people become familiar with this characteristic
of the Internet in other areas of their lives, they can be expected also
to look for it in regard to religion and the Church.
The technology is new, but the idea is not. Vatican Council II said members
of the Church should disclose to their pastors “their needs and
desires with that liberty and confidence which befits children of God
and brothers of Christ”; in fact, according to knowledge, competence,
or position, the faithful are not only able but sometimes obliged “to
manifest their opinion on those things which pertain to the good of the
Church”.25 Communio et Progressio remarked that as a “living
body” the Church “needs public opinion in order to sustain
a giving and taking among her members”.26 Although truths of faith
“do not leave room for arbitrary interpretations”, the pastoral
instruction noted “an enormous area where members of the Church
can express their views”.27
Similar ideas are expressed in the Code of Canon Law 28 as well as in
more recent documents of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.29
Aetatis Novae calls two-way communication and public opinion “one
of the ways of realizing in a concrete manner the Church's character as
communio”.30 Ethics in Communications says: “A two-way flow
of information and views between pastors and faithful, freedom of expression
sensitive to the well being of the community and to the role of the Magisterium
in fostering it, and responsible public opinion all are important expressions
of ‘the fundamental right of dialogue and information within the
Church'”.31 The Internet provides an effective technological means
of realizing this vision.
Here, then, is an instrument that can be put creatively to use for various
aspects of administration and governance. Along with opening up channels
for the expression of public opinion, we have in mind such things as consulting
experts, preparing meetings, and practicing collaboration in and among
particular churches and religious institutes on local, national, and international
levels.
7. Education and training are another area of opportunity and need. “Today
everybody needs some form of continuing media education, whether by personal
study or participation in an organized program or both. More than just
teaching about techniques, media education helps people form standards
of good taste and truthful moral judgment, an aspect of conscience formation.
Through her schools and formation programs the Church should provide media
education of this kind”.32
Education and training regarding the Internet ought to be part of comprehensive
programs of media education available to members of the Church. As much
as possible, pastoral planning for social communications should make provision
for this training in the formation of seminarians, priests, religious,
and lay pastoral personnel as well as teachers, parents, and students.33
Young people in particular need to be taught “not only to be good
Christians when they are recipients but also to be active in using all
the aids to communication that lie within the media...So, young people
will be true citizens of that age of social communications which has already
begun” 34—an age in which media are seen to be “part
of a still unfolding culture whose full implications are as yet imperfectly
understood”.35 Teaching about the Internet and the new technology
thus involves much more than teaching techniques; young people need to
learn how to function well in the world of cyberspace, make discerning
judgments according to sound moral criteria about what they find there,
and use the new technology for their integral development and the benefit
of others.
8. The Internet also presents some special problems for the Church, over
and above those of a general nature discussed in Ethics in Internet, the
document accompanying this one.36 While emphasizing what is positive about
the Internet, it is important to be clear about what is not.
At a very deep level, “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”.37
Among the specific problems presented by the Internet is the presence
of hate sites devoted to defaming and attacking religious and ethnic groups.
Some of these target the Catholic Church. Like pornography and violence
in the media, Internet hate sites are “reflections of the dark side
of a human nature marred by sin”.38 And while respect for free expression
may require tolerating even voices of hatred up to a point, industry self-regulation—and,
where required, intervention by public authority—should establish
and enforce reasonable limits to what can be said.
The proliferation of web sites calling themselves Catholic creates a problem
of a different sort. As we have said, church-related groups should be
creatively present on the Internet; and well-motivated, well-informed
individuals and unofficial groups acting on their own initiative are entitled
to be there as well. But it is confusing, to say the least, not to distinguish
eccentric doctrinal interpretations, idiosyncratic devotional practices,
and ideological advocacy bearing a ‘Catholic' label from the authentic
positions of the Church. We suggest an approach to this issue below.
9. Certain other matters still require much reflection. Regarding these,
we urge continued research and study, including “the development
of an anthropology and a theology of communication” 39—now,
with specific reference to the Internet. Along with study and research,
of course, positive pastoral planning for the use of the Internet can
and should go forward.40
One area for research concerns the suggestion that the wide range of choices
regarding consumer products and services available on the Internet may
have a spillover effect in regard to religion and encourage a ‘consumer'
approach to matters of faith. Data suggest that some visitors to religious
web sites may be on a sort of shopping spree, picking and choosing elements
of customized religious packages to suit their personal tastes. The “tendency
on the part of some Catholics to be selective in their adherence”
to the Church's teaching is a recognized problem in other contexts;41
more information is needed about whether and to what extent the problem
is exacerbated by the Internet.
Similarly, as noted above, the virtual reality of cyberspace has some
worrisome implications for religion as well as for other areas of life.
Virtual reality is no substitute for the Real Presence of Christ in the
Eucharist, the sacramental reality of the other sacraments, and shared
worship in a flesh-and-blood human community. There are no sacraments
on the Internet; and even the religious experiences possible there by
the grace of God are insufficient apart from real-world interaction with
other persons of faith. Here is another aspect of the Internet that calls
for study and reflection. At the same time, pastoral planning should consider
how to lead people from cyberspace to true community and how, through
teaching and catechesis, the Internet might subsequently be used to sustain
and enrich them in their Christian commitment.
III. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
10. Religious people, as concerned
members of the larger Internet audience who also have legitimate particular
interests of their own, wish to be part of the process that guides the
future development of this new medium. It goes without saying that this
will sometimes require them to adjust their own thinking and practice.
It is important, too, that people at all levels of the Church use the
Internet creatively to meet their responsibilities and help fulfill the
Church's mission. Hanging back timidly from fear of technology or for
some other reason is not acceptable, in view of the very many positive
possibilities of the Internet. “Methods of facilitating communication
and dialogue among her own members can strengthen the bonds of unity between
them. Immediate access to information makes it possible for [the Church]
to deepen her dialogue with the contemporary world...The Church can more
readily inform the world of her beliefs and explain the reasons for her
stance on any given issue or event. She can hear more clearly the voice
of public opinion, and enter into a continuous discussion with the world
around her, thus involving herself more immediately in the common search
for solutions to humanity's many pressing problems”.42
11. In concluding these reflections, therefore, we offer words of encouragement
to several groups in particular—Church leaders, pastoral personnel,
educators, parents, and especially young people.
To Church leaders: People in leadership positions in all sectors of the
Church need to understand the media, apply this understanding in formulating
pastoral plans for social communications 43 together with concrete policies
and programs in this area, and make appropriate use of media. Where necessary,
they should receive media education themselves; in fact, “the Church
would be well served if more of those who hold offices and perform functions
in her name received communication training”.44
This applies to the Internet as well as to the older media. Church leaders
are obliged to use “the full potential of the ‘computer age'
to serve the human and transcendent vocation of every person, and thus
to give glory to the Father from whom all good things come”.45 They
ought to employ this remarkable technology in many different aspects of
the Church's mission, while also exploring opportunities for ecumenical
and interreligious cooperation in its use.
A special aspect of the Internet, as we have seen, concerns the sometimes
confusing proliferation of unofficial web sites labeled ‘Catholic'.
A system of voluntary certification at the local and national levels under
the supervision of representatives of the Magisterium might be helpful
in regard to material of a specifically doctrinal or catechetical nature.
The idea is not to impose censorship but to offer Internet users a reliable
guide to what expresses the authentic position of the Church.
To pastoral personnel. Priests, deacons, religious, and lay pastoral workers
should have media education to increase their understanding of the impact
of social communications on individuals and society and help them acquire
a manner of communicating that speaks to the sensibilities and interests
of people in a media culture. Today this clearly includes training regarding
the Internet, including how to use it in their work. They can also profit
from websites offering theological updating and pastoral suggestions.
As for Church personnel directly involved in media, it hardly needs saying
that they must have professional training. But they also need doctrinal
and spiritual formation, since “in order to witness to Christ it
is necessary to encounter him oneself and foster a personal relationship
with him through prayer, the Eucharist and sacramental reconciliation,
reading and reflection on God's word, the study of Christian doctrine,
and service to others”.46
To educators and catechists. The Pastoral Instruction Communio et Progressio
spoke of the “urgent duty” of Catholic schools to train communicators
and recipients of social communications in relevant Christian principles.47
The same message has been repeated many times. In the age of the Internet,
with its enormous outreach and impact, the need is more urgent than ever.
Catholic universities, colleges, schools, and educational programs at
all levels should provide courses for various groups—“seminarians,
priests, religious brothers and sisters, and lay leaders...teachers, parents,
and students” 48—as well as more advanced training in communications
technology, management, ethics, and policy issues for individuals preparing
for professional media work or decision-making roles, including those
who work in social communications for the Church. Furthermore, we commend
the issues and questions mentioned above to the attention of scholars
and researchers in relevant disciplines in Catholic institutions of higher
learning.
To parents. For the sake of their children, as well as for their own sakes,
parents must “learn and practice the skills of discerning viewers
and listeners and readers, acting as models of prudent use of media in
the home”.49 As far as the Internet is concerned, children and young
people often are more familiar with it than their parents are, but parents
still are seriously obliged to guide and supervise their children in its
use.50 If this means learning more about the Internet than they have up
to now, that will be all to good.
Parental supervision should include making sure that filtering technology
is used in computers available to children when that is financially and
technically feasible, in order to protect them as much as possible from
pornography, sexual predators, and other threats. Unsupervised exposure
to the Internet should not be allowed. Parents and children should dialogue
together about what is seen and experienced in cyberspace; sharing with
other families who have the same values and concerns will also be helpful.
The fundamental parental duty here is to help children become discriminating,
responsible Internet users and not addicts of the Internet, neglecting
contact with their peers and with nature itself.
To children and young people. The Internet is a door opening on a glamorous
and exciting world with a powerful formative influence; but not everything
on the other side of the door is safe and wholesome and true. “Children
and young people should be open to formation regarding media, resisting
the easy path of uncritical passivity, peer pressure, and commercial exploitation”.51
The young owe it to themselves—and to their parents and families
and friends, their pastors and teachers, and ultimately to God—to
use the Internet well.
The Internet places in the grasp of young people at an unusually early
age an immense capacity for doing good and doing harm, to themselves and
others. It can enrich their lives beyond the dreams of earlier generations
and empower them to enrich others' lives in turn. It also can plunge them
into consumerism, pornographic and violent fantasy, and pathological isolation.
Young people, as has often been said, are the future of society and the
Church. Good use of the Internet can help prepare them for their responsibilities
in both. But this will not happen automatically. The Internet is not merely
a medium of entertainment and consumer gratification. It is a tool for
accomplishing useful work, and the young must learn to see it and use
it as such. In cyberspace, at least as much as anywhere else, they may
be called on to go against the tide, practice counter-culturalism, even
suffer persecution for the sake of what is true and good.
12. To all persons of good will. Finally, then, we would suggest some
virtues that need to be cultivated by everyone who wants to make good
use of the Internet; their exercise should be based upon and guided by
a realistic appraisal of its contents.
Prudence is necessary in order clearly to see the implications—the
potential for good and evil—in this new medium and to respond creatively
to its challenges and opportunities.
Justice is needed, especially justice in working to close the digital
divide—the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor
in today's world.52 This requires a commitment to the international common
good, no less than the “globalization of solidarity”.53
Fortitude, courage, is necessary. This means standing up for truth in
the face of religious and moral relativism, for altruism and generosity
in the face of individualistic consumerism, for decency in the face of
sensuality and sin.
And temperance is needed—a self-disciplined approach to this remarkable
technological instrument, the Internet, so as to use it wisely and only
for good.
Reflecting on the Internet, as upon all the other media of social communications,
we recall that Christ is “the perfect communicator” 54—the
norm and model of the Church's approach to communication, as well as the
content that the Church is obliged to communicate. “May Catholics
involved in the world of social communications preach the truth of Jesus
ever more boldly from the housetops, so that all men and women may hear
about 0the love which is the heart of God's self-communication in Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever”.55
Vatican City, February 22, 2002, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle.
John P. Foley
President
Pierfranco Pastore
Secretary
(1) John Paul II, encyclical
letter Laborem Exercens, n. 25; cf. Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution
on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, n. 34.
(2) Vatican Council II, Decree on the Means of Social Communication Inter
Mirifica, n. 1.
(3) For example, Inter Mirifica; the Messages of Pope Paul VI and Pope
John Paul II on the occasion of the World Communication Days; Pontifical
Council for Social Communications, Pastoral Instruction Communio et Progressio,
Pornography and Violence in the Communications Media: A Pastoral Response,
Pastoral Instruction Aetatis Novae, Ethics in Advertising, Ethics in Communications.
(4) Pornography and Violence in the Communications Media, n. 30.
(5) Communio et Progressio, n. 2.
(6) John Paul II, Message for the 34th World Communications Day, June
4, 2000.
(7) Communio et Progressio, n. 10.
(8) Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World Gaudium et Spes, 39.
(9) Inter Mirifica, 2.
(10) Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Ethics in Internet.
(11) Aetatis Novae, 8.
(12) Ibid.
(13) Ethics in Communications, n. 3.
(14) Cf. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
Dei Verbum, n. 10.
(15) Aetatis Novae, n. 10.
(16) Ethics in Communications, n. 26.
(17) Communio et Progressio, 128.
(18) Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 45.
(19) Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, n. 37.
(20) Aetatis Novae, n. 2.
(21) John Paul II, Message for the 35th World Communications Day, n. 3,
May 27, 2001.
(22) Aetatis Novae, n. 9.
(23) Ethics in Communications, n. 11.
(24) Cf. Communio et Progressio, n. 15.
(25) Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, n. 37.
(26) Communio et Progressio, n. 116.
(27) Ibid., n. 117.
(28) Cf. Canon 212.2, 212.3.
(29) Cf. Aetatis Novae, n. 10; Ethics in Communications, n. 26.
(30) Aetatis Novae, n. 10.
(31) Ethics in Communications, n. 26.
(32) Ethics in Communications, n. 25.
(33) Aetatis Novae, n. 28.
(34) Communio et Progressio, n. 107.
(35) John Paul II, Message for the 24th World Communications Day, 1990.
(36) Cf. Ethics in Internet.
(37) John Paul II, Message for the 35th World Communications Day, n. 3.
(38) Pornography and Violence in the Communications Media, n. 7.
(39) Aetatis Novae, 8.
(40) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, n. 39.
(41) Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Bishops of the United States, n.
5, Los Angeles, September 16, 1987.
(42) John Paul II, Message for the 24th World Communications Day, 1990.
(43) Cf. Aetatis Novae, nn. 23-33.
(44) Ethics in Communications, n. 26.
(45) Message for the 24th World Communications Day.
(46) Message for the 34th World Communications Day, 2000.
(47) Communio et Progressio, n. 107.
(48) Aetatis Novae, n. 28.
(49) Ethics in Communications, n. 25.
(50) Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio,
n. 76.
(51) Ethics in Communications, n. 25.
(52) Cf. Ethics in Internet, nn. 10, 17.
(53) John Paul II, Address to the UN Secretary General and to the Administrative
Committee on Coordination of the United Nations, n. 2, April 7, 2000.
(54) Communio et Progressio, n. 11.
(55) Message for the 35th World Communications Day, n. 4.
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