March 1, 2011.
While optimistic about the
opportunities that the Internet provides, the pope encourages
Catholics to consider how the web is transforming culture and daily
life.
Benedict XVI warned that
because more and more people are communicating through computers or
mobile phones, true dialogue is being decreased as well as a
responsibility for what said.
Benedict XVI
“The new
languages that are developed in digital communication result in,
among other things, a more intuitive and emotional mentality,
oriented toward a different logical organization of thought and
relationship to reality, which often gives priority to the image and
hyperlinks.”
This
was said during a meeting with the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications. The pope encouraged bishops and priests to learn the
new digital languages in order to address the cultural chances that
they have caused.
Benedicto XVI
“The risks
are obvious to all: the loss of intimacy, superficiality in
relationships, resorting to the emotional and a general attitude that
prevails over the desire for truth.”
The
pope also asked clergy to find the symbols and metaphors in the new
digital culture that can help people to better understand and speak
about God.
JMB/RD
CTV
HC
-Bn
