Share Good News through technology, urges Pope Benedict XVI

(11 Oct. 2006): - The Church must not be afraid to use technology to spread the good news, said Pope Benedict XVI to the World Congress for Catholic TV in Madrid. In a message sent by Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pontiff said that Catholics can use television to better fulfil Christ's missionary mandate and. respond in a solicitous manner to the needs of our times. The Pope's message addressed to Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, was read to about 300 participants and 100 journalists at the congress, representing approximately 50 countries. The Congress is reflecting on late Pope John Paul II's letter "The Rapid Development." The purpose of the meeting is to encourage dialogue and cooperation between the many Church organizations that produce or broadcast television programs in various parts of the world," said Cardinal Bertone in the papal message. The note added that "the multiplicity of initiatives today requires greater mutual collaboration, so as to facilitate a more spirited dialogue between the Church and the world. And, as every organization brings its own particular contribution to the encounter of the Catholic voice and the world of the media, a great unity is necessary between the Holy See and the local hierarchies, in order to inspire and support the various television companies, and those that will develop in the future, helping them to remain faithful to their Catholic identity, while preserving their diverse styles." The message also said - "The new forms of communication offer a highly favourable framework for more active participation of the public together with the media, promoting the inclusion of less fortunate sectors of the public, and adapting themselves in a particular way to the experience of communion that is at the very heart of the Church." To accomplish this, added the message, "it is necessary, without fear of technology, to promote a joyful, creative and professional presence in television, being co-workers of the truth, so as to offer the good news of our Lord in the multiple formats of audiovisual media, while also witnessing to the beauty of creation."