Catholic media must obey Church teaching: Cardinal Burke
April 24, 2012: Church communicators have an important and serious duty to obey church
teaching and defend the church’s mission of saving souls and safeguarding truth, said
the head of the Vatican’s highest court.
Caution as well as control over content
and where it’s distributed are needed because while the field of communications “has
great potential for good,” it “also can be turned to the harm of the faithful,” said
Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature.
Communicators
should be guided and directed by pastors to make sure their content is free from doctrinal
and theological error, and Catholics should avoid outlets that openly attack Christian
morality, he added.
The cardinal was speaking at a biennial seminar for people
who work in the field of media and communications for dioceses, religious institutions
and other church organizations. The church’s discipline and canonical processes are
“not only not a hindrance to the effective communication of the Catholic faith, but
also an effective manifestation of the vitality of the faith’, Cardinal Burke added.