Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Children and the Media: A Challenge for Education” is the theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for his message on the occasion of the 41st World Communications Day on May 20. In the message, issued as customary on 24 January Feast day of St Francis de Sales the patron saint of journalists, the Pope says the theme is an invitation to reflect on two related topics: “The formation of children is one. The other, perhaps less obvious but no less important, is the formation of the media”. The media have a pervasive influence in the world and also in the field of education and “some claim that the formative influence of the media rivals that of the school, the Church, and maybe even the home” the Holy Father affirms.
The Pope says the relationship of children, media and education can be considered from two perspectives: “the formation of children by the media; and the formation of children to respond appropriately to the media”. He stresses that “training in the proper use of the media is essential for the cultural, moral and spiritual development of children” and that this task is the responsibility of parents, Church and school. The Holy Father recalls primary importance of the role of parents who “have the right and the duty to ensure the prudent use of the media by training the conscience of their children to express sound and objective judgements which will then guide them in choosing or rejecting programmes available”. In doing so “parents should have the encouragement and assistance of schools and parishes” the Holy Father underlines.
The Pope goes on to say that “media education should be positive” because “children exposed to what is aesthetically and morally excellent are helped to develop appreciation, prudence and the skills of discernment … Beauty, a kind of mirror of the divine, inspires and vivifies young hearts and minds, while ugliness and coarseness have a depressing impact on attitudes and behaviour”. Parents’ example is fundamental in media education which demands “formation in the exercise of freedom”. “So often freedom is presented as a relentless search for pleasure or new experiences… True freedom could never condemn the individual - especially a child - to an insatiable quest for novelty. In the light of truth, authentic freedom is experienced as a definitive response to God’s ‘yes’ to humanity, calling us to choose, not indiscriminately but deliberately, all that is good, true and beautiful. ”.
“This heartfelt wish of parents and teachers to educate children in the ways of beauty, truth and goodness can be supported by the media industry only to the extent that it promotes fundamental human dignity, the true value of marriage and family life, and the positive achievements and goals of humanity. Thus the need for the media to be committed to effective formation and ethical standards is viewed with particular interest and even urgency not only by parents and teachers but by all who have sense of civic responsibility.”
The Holy Father acknowledges that many media operators want to do what is right but that those who work in this field confront pressure and ethical dilemmas and commercial competitiveness, however he says firmly “Any trend to produce programmes and products - including animated films and video games - which in the same of entertainment exalt violence and portray anti-social behaviour or the trivialisation of human sexuality is a perversion, all the more repulsive when there programmes are directed at children and adolescents” and he urges “leaders of the media industry to educate and encourage producers to safeguard the common good, to uphold truth, to protect individual human dignity and promote respect for the needs of the family”.
The Pope concludes by recalling that the Church, a “teacher of humanity”, gladly offers assistance to parents, educations, communicators and young people: “Her own parish and school programmes should be in the forefront of education today. Above all the Church desires to share a vision of human dignity that is central to all worthy human communication”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 24/1/2007, righe 50, parole 670)
