Pontifical Council reflects on Proclaiming Christ in the digital age

Rome, 5 December 2013: Among the new emerging ways and contexts that have been long discussed in the 13^th Ordinary General Assembly of Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization, we find the world of digital communication, which in no time has profoundly changed the landscape of cultural and social life of our planet. From this elementary observation comes the choice of the theme for this plenary Assembly: "Proclaiming Christ in the digital age. Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, made these comments on Thursday during his keynote address at the beginning of the 26^th Plenary Assembly of the Council. The three-day Plenary, from 5 to 7 December, is being held in Rome on the theme "Proclaiming Christ in the digital age."

Earlier, during his homily at Mass, reflecting on the Gospel passage which describes two types of builders of a house – one is wise and the other foolish, the Cardinal said that each of us is called to choose the rock or sand to build our life. In the post-modern culture, this choice is not easy, said the Cardinal adding, often we must have the courage to go against the current of the dominant culture, that culture is a ‘liquid’, with no points of reference and clear standards of conduct. The post-modern world tries to convince us that building our lives on the sand is faster, more pleasing, convenient, than building our lives on the rock! Nothing could be further from the truth!

The present day digital culture has the ability to affect the lives of people very deeply. It is a novelty in many ways fascinating that opens before humanity today entirely new horizons. And for the Church promises a new frontier in its evangelizing mission.

Citing Pope Francis, Cardinal Rylko said that the Pontiff encourages us to face the challenge of the digital culture when he says: "It is important to know how to communicate, entering with discernment, even in the areas created by new technologies to bring out a presence, a presence that listens, talks and encourages. According to Pope Francis, the digital world is for us Christians a true missionary challenge. To address this challenge requires appropriate training, in particular, the Christian laity, because - as the Pope explains - "the great digital continent is not just technology, but is made up of real men and women who bring with them what they have inside, their hopes, their sufferings, their anxieties, the search for the true, the beautiful and the good.

The study days that open today aim to provide the valid elements to orient in an environment as complex and ambiguous as the digital world, said Cardinal Rylko. Citing the results of a recent study in Poland on the relationship with the network of young preteens and teenagers, Cardinal Rylko said that 38% of boys aged 11 to 16 years old feels themselves to be more on the network than in real life. In fact at least 35% of these young reduces the actual relations in the family and in school and abandon hobbies and amusements of their age and take refuge in the network. So the campaigners coined the slogan ‘Disconnect from the internet to connect with life".Source: VR Sedoc