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Emails, phone calls, text messages and social media are all competing for our attention in order to exert their influence on us. Media is constantly imparting information that at times is correct but at other times is manipulated or even fake (fake news).
In his message for World Communications Day (13.05.18), Pope Francis writes that “the most radical antidote to the virus of falsehood is purification by the truth.” For us Christians can only mean that we rely solely on the One who is true, the living God.
The Pope says that “the best antidotes to falsehoods are not strategies, but people: people who are not greedy but ready to listen, people who make the effort to engage in sincere dialogue so that the truth can emerge; people who are attracted by goodness and take responsibility for how they use language.”
Pope Francis also encourages those whose job is to provide information, most especially journalists, the “protectors of news”, to be at the service of all, especially the voiceless, who are the majority in our world.
The words of Pope Francis to journalists to promote a journalism of peace also hold true for each and every one of us. When we communicate with each other, including online, we are called to spread the truth without twisting facts and without fear to proclaim the Word of Truth, the Word of The Lord.