Papal advice for Catholic journalists on their "truly important function"

Jun. 02 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI gave his encouragement to Catholic journalists during a June 2 audience, speaking of the "truly important function" that they perform.

Journalism should not be undertaken "in an abstract or purely intellectual manner," the Pope said. He recommended that reporters pay careful attention to the daily lives of the people they cover. He added that they should see their work as "building bridges of understanding and communication between ecclesiastical experience and public opinion."

The Holy Father was speaking to about 1,200 Italian journalists and technicians, affiliated with the communications media controlled by the Italian Catholic bishops' conference. He reminded them how Pope Paul VI was instrumental in founding the daily newspaper Avvenire, which is owned by the Italian bishops. Later the paper was joined by the radio station InBlu, the television channel Sat 2000, and the information service SIR.

In his remarks to the journalists the Pope spoke of how Christian thought had shaped European culture, but in recent years "the reduction of faith to a subjective experience and the consequent secularization of public conscience" have drastically altered public attitudes.