Pontifical Council for Social Communications

43rd World Day of Communications

"New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a Culture of Respect,

Dialogue and Friendship."

May 24, 2009

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.

BENEDICTUS XVI

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