Pope Leo XIV meets with Roman media experts to cover the pontificate elections and urges them to serve the truth and promote peace, saying that communication will help create a culture of society.
By Devin Watkins
Just four days passed since the election to the Pope, Pope Leo XIV made it a point to protect Pope Francis, Conclave, and the audience reporting the first day of his own ministry, along with men and women who were in Rome.
He met with media experts at the Vatican Paul VI’s hall on Monday and thanked Italian reporters for his intense work over the past few weeks.
Cultivate peace
The newly elected Pope began his remarks with a call for communication that nurtures peace by caring for how people and events are presented.
He invited media experts to say that “we will never sacrifice consensus at all, we will not use offensive language, do not follow a culture of competition, and never separate the search for love and truth, which we must humbly seek it.”
“The way we communicate is fundamentally important,” he said. “We must say “no” to the war of words and images. We must reject the paradigm of war. ”
Solidarity with persecuted journalists
The Pope went on to reaffirm the church’s solidarity with journalists who are incarcerated to report the truth, and he called for their release.
He added that their suffering reminds the world of freedom of expression and the importance of the press, “only an informed individual can make free choices.”
Serving the truth
Pope Leo XIV then thanked the reporters for their service to the truth, especially their work to present the church to the “beauty of Christ’s love” during the recent regnum period.
He praised the way he puts aside stereotypes and cliches to share with the world with the “the essence of who we are.”
Our era focuses on him presenting many problems that are difficult to refocus and navigate, and that they call each and every one of us to overcome the mediocrity.
Faced with the challenges of our times
“The church must face challenges raised by the times,” he said. “In the same way, communication and journalism do not exist anywhere except time and history. St. Augustine reminds me of this when he says, “We live well, the times are good. We are times.” ”
Pope Leo XIV said the modern world can lose us in “a dysfunction of ideological or partisan loveless language confusion.”
He said the media must take up challenges to guide the world from such a “Tower of Babel” through the language we use and the style we adopt.
“Communication isn’t just about communicating information,” he said.
AI demands responsibility and identification
Pointing to the spread of artificial intelligence, the Pope stated that the “immeasurable possibilities” of AI “require responsibility and discernability to make it possible to benefit all humanity, so that it can benefit all humanity.”
In conclusion, Pope Leo XIV reiterated Pope Francis’ message to the 2025 World Day of Social Communication.
“Disarm all the communication of prejudice and res, fanaticism and even hate,” he said. “Disarm your words. I’ll help you disarm the world.”
