In a message to an Italian public television show on its 30th anniversary, Pope Leo XIV pointed out the benefits but also the risks and dangers of digital media.
Pope Leo XIV warned of the risks that go hand in hand with information in the digital age and urged journalists never to succumb “to the temptation of the trivial” or to fake news that creates confusion about what’s true or false.
The pope made his comments in a message sent on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of “Porta a Porta” (“Door to Door”), a program on RAI 1 Italian public television, in which he addressed to the show’s host, Bruno Vespa, the editorial team, and the viewers.
Leo XIV recalled the three decades of the “Porta a Porta” program’s history as a period marked by “wars and peace agreements, crises and recoveries, joyful and sad events.”
At the same time, he emphasized that the medium itself has also changed: television and, with it, all communication. “Today we have new tools and new possibilities for informing ourselves, learning, and interacting,” the pope wrote, “but along with them, new risks have also emerged.”
Among these dangers, the Holy Father listed the exchange of fake news for real news, “compulsive channel surfing” instead of attentive listening, “doom scrolling” instead of intentional reading, superficial curiosity instead of a genuine desire to learn, and monologues instead of dialogues in which no one truly listens.
‘Quality television’
In the face of these trends, the pontiff advocated patience and a long-term perspective as necessary conditions for building lasting relationships. He also urged that technological innovations not lead to the loss of “the uniqueness of our humanity.”
“Communication challenges us all never to succumb to the temptation of the banal,” Pope Leo XIV emphasized. Finally, he encouraged television professionals to “always offer the world, which thirsts for beauty and truth, quality television.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
