At 12:20pm this afternoon (6:20am EDT), in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience a delegation from the Biagio Agnes Prize committee for international journalism.
Dear friends,
Welcome! I greet and wish to thank Doctor Simona Agnes, the members of the jury and all of you who are here, who in various capacities play important roles in the field of communications. The Foundation that promotes this Award bears the name Biagio Agnes, one of the most noted Italian journalists, a defender of public service, who intervened on may occasions concerning the role of journalists as guarantors of correct, reliable, authentic and timely information.
Making use of his teachings, all of you commit yourselves, above all personally, toward communications that is able to put the truth above personal or corporate interests. In addition, by observing what is produced by cultural industry, with this Award, you point out the journalism community and individual journalists those who are distinguished for their responsibility in the exercise of their profession. In fact, being a journalist has to do with the formation informing of people, their vision of the world and of their attitudes toward world events. This is demanding work, which at this moment is experiencing a time that is characterized, on the one hand by digital convergence and on the other hand by the transformation of these very forms of media.
At times, I happen to observe, on the occasion of Apostolic voyages or of other encounters, a difference in methods of production: from the classic television crews to the boys and girls who know how to assemble news for a given portal using a cell phone. Or from traditional radio to real and proper interviews also conducted with cell phones. All this says that we are indeed experiencing an urgent transformation of the forms and languages of information. It can be tiring to enter into the process of transformation, but it is increasingly necessary if we want to continue being educators of newer generations. I said that this was tiring, and I would add that wise vigilance is also needed. In fact, the dynamics of the media and of the digital world ... when they become omnipresent, do not favour the development of a capacity for life with wisdom, capable of thinking deeply and loving generously. The great scholars of the past, in this context, would run the risk of seeing their wisdom suffocated in the midst of disbursing information (Laudato si', 47).
There is no recipe, but I want to point out three words: peripheries, truth and hope.
Peripheries. Very often, the nerve centres of news production are found in large places, but this should never make us forget the stories of people who live far away in the suburbs. These are stories sometimes of suffering and of degradation; at other times, they are stories of great solidarity that can help everyone to look at reality in a renewed way.
Truth. Everyone knows that a journalist is called to write what he or she is thinking, that which corresponds to his or her conscious and responsible comprehension of an event. You must be very demanding with yourselves in order not to fall into the trap of opposing interests and ideologies. Today, in a world where everything is fast, it is increasingly urgent to appeal to the painful and arduous law of in-depth research, confrontation and, if necessary, of keeping quiet rather than hurting a person or a group of people or delegitimizing an event. I know that it is difficult, but the history of a life is only understood at the end, and this should help us to become courageous and even, I would say, prophetic.
Hope. This is not about encountering a world with no problems: that would be an illusion. It is a matter of opening up space for hope while denouncing situations that degrade and invite despair. A journalist should never feel right for the mere fact of having recounted an event according to his or her own free and conscious responsibility. He or she is called to maintain an avenue of exit, of meaning and of hope.
I will conclude by recalling one of the initiatives that the Biagio Agnes Foundation, thanks to the tenacity of your President, is developing: the Scientific Dissemination Forum known as Check Up for Italy, a project that was born out of and idea conceived by Bagio Agnes, whose aim is to deepen medical-scientific topics through accurate information that contrasts the proliferation of do-it-yourself information and by approximate news which, more and more often can be found on the Net and which attract the attention of the public much more than science. A few weeks ago, the Pontifical Council for Culture concluded an international convention on this theme. In this regard, I would like to recall the fact that it is necessary that we ensure a responsible and wide-ranging scientific and social debate which is capable of considering all available information and of calling things by name. Sometimes, complete information is not put on the table, but only that which has been selected according to one's own interests, whether political, economic or ideological (Laudato si', 135).
I thank you once again and I offer my congratulations to the Winners. And, please, remember to pray for me. Thank you.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to members of the
Biagio Agnes Prize Committee
Dear friends,
Welcome! I greet and wish to thank Doctor Simona Agnes, the members of the jury and all of you who are here, who in various capacities play important roles in the field of communications. The Foundation that promotes this Award bears the name Biagio Agnes, one of the most noted Italian journalists, a defender of public service, who intervened on may occasions concerning the role of journalists as guarantors of correct, reliable, authentic and timely information.
Making use of his teachings, all of you commit yourselves, above all personally, toward communications that is able to put the truth above personal or corporate interests. In addition, by observing what is produced by cultural industry, with this Award, you point out the journalism community and individual journalists those who are distinguished for their responsibility in the exercise of their profession. In fact, being a journalist has to do with the formation informing of people, their vision of the world and of their attitudes toward world events. This is demanding work, which at this moment is experiencing a time that is characterized, on the one hand by digital convergence and on the other hand by the transformation of these very forms of media.
At times, I happen to observe, on the occasion of Apostolic voyages or of other encounters, a difference in methods of production: from the classic television crews to the boys and girls who know how to assemble news for a given portal using a cell phone. Or from traditional radio to real and proper interviews also conducted with cell phones. All this says that we are indeed experiencing an urgent transformation of the forms and languages of information. It can be tiring to enter into the process of transformation, but it is increasingly necessary if we want to continue being educators of newer generations. I said that this was tiring, and I would add that wise vigilance is also needed. In fact, the dynamics of the media and of the digital world ... when they become omnipresent, do not favour the development of a capacity for life with wisdom, capable of thinking deeply and loving generously. The great scholars of the past, in this context, would run the risk of seeing their wisdom suffocated in the midst of disbursing information (Laudato si', 47).
There is no recipe, but I want to point out three words: peripheries, truth and hope.
Peripheries. Very often, the nerve centres of news production are found in large places, but this should never make us forget the stories of people who live far away in the suburbs. These are stories sometimes of suffering and of degradation; at other times, they are stories of great solidarity that can help everyone to look at reality in a renewed way.
Truth. Everyone knows that a journalist is called to write what he or she is thinking, that which corresponds to his or her conscious and responsible comprehension of an event. You must be very demanding with yourselves in order not to fall into the trap of opposing interests and ideologies. Today, in a world where everything is fast, it is increasingly urgent to appeal to the painful and arduous law of in-depth research, confrontation and, if necessary, of keeping quiet rather than hurting a person or a group of people or delegitimizing an event. I know that it is difficult, but the history of a life is only understood at the end, and this should help us to become courageous and even, I would say, prophetic.
Hope. This is not about encountering a world with no problems: that would be an illusion. It is a matter of opening up space for hope while denouncing situations that degrade and invite despair. A journalist should never feel right for the mere fact of having recounted an event according to his or her own free and conscious responsibility. He or she is called to maintain an avenue of exit, of meaning and of hope.
I will conclude by recalling one of the initiatives that the Biagio Agnes Foundation, thanks to the tenacity of your President, is developing: the Scientific Dissemination Forum known as Check Up for Italy, a project that was born out of and idea conceived by Bagio Agnes, whose aim is to deepen medical-scientific topics through accurate information that contrasts the proliferation of do-it-yourself information and by approximate news which, more and more often can be found on the Net and which attract the attention of the public much more than science. A few weeks ago, the Pontifical Council for Culture concluded an international convention on this theme. In this regard, I would like to recall the fact that it is necessary that we ensure a responsible and wide-ranging scientific and social debate which is capable of considering all available information and of calling things by name. Sometimes, complete information is not put on the table, but only that which has been selected according to one's own interests, whether political, economic or ideological (Laudato si', 135).
I thank you once again and I offer my congratulations to the Winners. And, please, remember to pray for me. Thank you.
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