In his message entitled “We are members one of another» (Eph 4:25) From social network communities to the human community, released on the feast day of St Francis de Sales, Patron Saint of Journalists, His Holiness Pope Francis underlines that the Internet and social media are an important resource. But he also emphasizes that the Internet has been “proven to be one of the areas most exposed to disinformation and to the conscious and targeted distortion of facts and interpersonal relationships, which are often used to discredit.”
As reported by Vatican news, Social networks on the one hand, the Pontiff says “help us to better connect, rediscover, and assist one another, but on the other hand, “lend themselves to the manipulation of personal data, aimed at obtaining political or economic advantages, without due respect for the person and his or her rights.” The Pontiff also notes that, “statistics show that among young people one in four is involved in episodes of cyberbullying.” “To curb this phenomenon,” he adds, “an international observatory on cyberbullying will be set up in the Vatican.”
The Church herself, remarks the Pontiff, “is a network woven together by Eucharistic communion, where unity is based not on “likes”, but on the truth, on the “Amen”, by which each one clings to the Body of Christ, and welcomes others.” The Pontiff concludes his message by saying, that by acting responsibility to promote the positive use of the Net, we can “move from diagnosis to treatment: opening the way for dialogue, for encounter, for “smiles” and expressions of tenderness. This is the network we want, a network created not to entrap, but to liberate, to protect a communion of people who are free.”
