New Technologies, New Relationships. Promoting a Culture of Respect,
Dialogue and Friendship.
Message of the Holy Father Benedict XVI for the 43rd World Day of
Communications - May 24, 2009
February 12, 2009
Pro-Life Excerpt:
Friendship is
a great human good, but it would be emptied of its ultimate value if it were to
be understood as an end in itself. Friends should support and encourage each
other in developing their gifts and talents and in putting them at the service
of the human community. In this context, it is gratifying to note the emergence
of new digital networks that seek to promote human solidarity, peace and
justice, human rights and respect for human life and the good of creation.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
In anticipation of the forthcoming World
Communications Day, I would like to address to you some reflections on the theme
chosen for this year - New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a
culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship. The new digital technologies
are, indeed, bringing about fundamental shifts in patterns of communication and
human relationships. These changes are particularly evident among those young
people who have grown up with the new technologies and are at home in a digital
world that often seems quite foreign to those of us who, as adults, have had to
learn to understand and appreciate the opportunities it has to offer for
communications. In this year’s message, I am conscious of those who constitute
the so-called digital generation and I would like to share with them, in
particular, some ideas concerning the extraordinary potential of the new
technologies, if they are used to promote human understanding and solidarity.
These technologies are truly a gift to humanity and we must endeavour to ensure
that the benefits they offer are put at the service of all human individuals and
communities, especially those who are most disadvantaged and vulnerable.
The accessibility of mobile telephones and
computers, combined with the global reach and penetration of the internet, has
opened up a range of means of communication that permit the almost instantaneous
communication of words and images across enormous distances and to some of the
most isolated corners of the world; something that would have been unthinkable
for previous generations. Young people, in particular, have grasped the enormous
capacity of the new media to foster connectedness, communication and
understanding between individuals and communities, and they are turning to them
as means of communicating with existing friends, of meeting new friends, of
forming communities and networks, of seeking information and news, and of
sharing their ideas and opinions. Many benefits flow from this new culture of
communication: families are able to maintain contact across great distances;
students and researchers have more immediate and easier access to documents,
sources and scientific discoveries, hence they can work collaboratively from
different locations; moreover, the interactive nature of many of the new media
facilitates more dynamic forms of learning and communication, thereby
contributing to social progress.
While the speed with which the new technologies
have evolved in terms of their efficiency and reliability is rightly a source of
wonder, their popularity with users should not surprise us, as they respond to a
fundamental desire of people to communicate and to relate to each other. This
desire for communication and friendship is rooted in our very nature as human
beings and cannot be adequately understood as a response to technical
innovations. In the light of the biblical message, it should be seen primarily
as a reflection of our participation in the communicative and unifying Love of
God, who desires to make of all humanity one family. When we find ourselves
drawn towards other people, when we want to know more about them and make
ourselves known to them, we are responding to God’s call - a call that is
imprinted in our nature as beings created in the image and likeness of God, the
God of communication and communion.
The desire for connectedness and the instinct for
communication that are so obvious in contemporary culture are best understood as
modern manifestations of the basic and enduring propensity of humans to reach
beyond themselves and to seek communion with others. In reality, when we open
ourselves to others, we are fulfilling our deepest need and becoming more fully
human. Loving is, in fact, what we are designed for by our Creator. Naturally, I
am not talking about fleeting, shallow relationships, I am talking about the
real love that is at the very heart of Jesus’ moral teaching: "You must love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and
with all your strength" and "You must love your neighbour as yourself" (cf. Mk
12:30-31). In this light, reflecting on the significance of the new
technologies, it is important to focus not just on their undoubted capacity to
foster contact between people, but on the quality of the content that is put
into circulation using these means. I would encourage all people of good will
who are active in the emerging environment of digital communication to commit
themselves to promoting a culture of respect, dialogue and
friendship.
Those who are active in the production and
dissemination of new media content, therefore, should strive to respect
the dignity and worth of the human person. If the new technologies are to serve
the good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing of
words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and
intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality or that
exploit the weak and vulnerable.
The new technologies have also opened the way for
dialogue between people from different countries, cultures and religions.
The new digital arena, the so-called cyberspace, allows them to encounter
and to know each other’s traditions and values. Such encounters, if they are to
be fruitful, require honest and appropriate forms of expression together with
attentive and respectful listening. The dialogue must be rooted in a genuine and
mutual searching for truth if it is to realize its potential to promote growth
in understanding and tolerance. Life is not just a succession of events or
experiences: it is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to
this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom;
it is in this - in truth, in goodness, and in beauty - that we find happiness
and joy. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by those who see us merely
as consumers in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself
becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces
truth.
The concept of friendship has enjoyed a
renewed prominence in the vocabulary of the new digital social networks that
have emerged in the last few years. The concept is one of the noblest
achievements of human culture. It is in and through our friendships that we grow
and develop as humans. For this reason, true friendship has always been seen as
one of the greatest goods any human person can experience. We should be careful,
therefore, never to trivialize the concept or the experience of friendship. It
would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships
were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our
neighbours and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work,
education and recreation. If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes
obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social
interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection
that are necessary for healthy human development.
Friendship is a great human good, but it would be
emptied of its ultimate value if it were to be understood as an end in itself.
Friends should support and encourage each other in developing their gifts and
talents and in putting them at the service of the human community. In this
context, it is gratifying to note the emergence of new digital networks that
seek to promote human solidarity, peace and justice, human rights and respect
for human life and the good of creation. These networks can facilitate forms of
co-operation between people from different geographical and cultural contexts
that enable them to deepen their common humanity and their sense of shared
responsibility for the good of all. We must, therefore, strive to ensure that
the digital world, where such networks can be established, is a world that is
truly open to all. It would be a tragedy for the future of humanity if the new
instruments of communication, which permit the sharing of knowledge and
information in a more rapid and effective manner, were not made accessible to
those who are already economically and socially marginalized, or if it should
contribute only to increasing the gap separating the poor from the new networks
that are developing at the service of human socialization and information.
I would like to conclude this message by addressing
myself, in particular, to young Catholic believers: to encourage them to bring
the witness of their faith to the digital world. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I
ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications
and information technology the values on which you have built your lives. In the
early life of the Church, the great Apostles and their disciples brought the
Good News of Jesus to the Greek and Roman world. Just as, at that time, a
fruitful evangelization required that careful attention be given to
understanding the culture and customs of those pagan peoples so that the truth
of the gospel would touch their hearts and minds, so also today, the
proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound
knowledge of this world if the technologies are to serve our mission adequately.
It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous
affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for
the evangelization of this "digital continent". Be sure to announce the Gospel
to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes,
their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest gift you can give to
them is to share with them the "Good News" of a God who became man, who
suffered, died and rose again to save all people. Human hearts are yearning for
a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where
freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful
communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its
heralds! The Pope accompanies you with his prayers and his blessing.
From the Vatican, 24 January
2009, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales.
