2016-11-04 13:50:00

Lateran Univ conference explores core values in digital age


(Vatican Radio) Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University was the scene on Friday for a day-long event exploring the transformations that the digital revolution is bringing about today.

Under the theme, Core Values: the transmission of values in the digital age, participants spent the day posing hard questions to each other about the values that will best inform and sustain a coherent vision of integral human development in changing times.

The guiding idea of the day’s conversations was Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato si’, in which the Holy Father wrote, “As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning ... Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.”

The study day was opened by the Prefect of the Secretariat for Communication at the Holy See, Msgr. Dario Edoardo Viganò.

Among the thought leaders and top-level executives from communications, technology, news, entertainment and advertising media taking part in the one-day conference was Google Europe’s President in charge of Strategic Relationships, Carlo D’Asaro Biondo, who told Vatican Radio “We need to find [again] a common language [among] people working on different issues, so that we can contribute to building a better world somehow.”

Asked what he thinks the Church might do better to inhabit the digital space that is a contour and an integral feature of the contemporary world, D’Asaro replied, “First of all, I think Pope Francis is profoundly changing how the Church is perceived in the world, by embodying values that are very contemporary – in terms of transparency, openness, respect for diversity and the core values [the Church is] representing.”

To hear our extended conversation with Google’s Carlo D’Asaro - including his answer to a question regarding the complexities involved in living up to Google's ethos, "Don't be evil" - click below 








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