VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Journalist reporting about the Catholic Church should not aim to polarize people or impose a particular position, but rather to seek and share the truth. Pope Francis said we should.
Journalists have an obligation to root their work “not on the fragile sands of gossip and ideological readings, but on the solid rock of the responsibility of truth,” the Pope told Vatican-accredited journalists at a Jan. 22 meeting. I spoke to about 150 people.
Three Catholic News Agency reporters attended the conference and, like all attendees, personally greeted Pope Francis at the end of the audience.
In his speech, the Pope told reporters not to “cover up the reality, even its misery,” when reporting, adding that while tensions within the church should not be downplayed, “we should avoid making unnecessary noise.” ” also said it should not be done.
“Being a journalist is a profession a little like that of a doctor who chooses to love humanity by curing disease,” he said. Similarly, journalists “choose to touch” the wounds of society and the world in order to bring them to light.
Pope Francis spoke frankly and praised the “sensitivity” of journalists in reporting on “scandals” within the church. – “Embarrassing” silence when dealing with scandals,” he said.
He encouraged people to look beyond the “appearance” of church events and instead focus on “the superficiality of stereotypes and the essence of information that refuses to conform to established formulas of entertainment.”
Honestly reporting about the church, he said, is a service to “the people of God, the simplest of people, and the church itself, which still has a long way to go to better communicate with its pre-word witnesses.”
Pope St. Paul VI told journalists during the Second Vatican Council that reporting about the Church should not be based on “blasphemous and political categories,” but instead and that it should be done based on moral objectives.
Pope Francis also expressed gratitude for the sacrifices journalists make to follow the pope on his trips abroad and to work on holidays and Sundays for events.
“I must apologize for the news that in many ways bothers me and has taken you away from your families and away from playing with your children,” he said. “This is very important.”
During confession, the pope said he would ask parents whether they would like to play with their children, saying that this is what mothers and fathers “always have to do: play with their children.”
In a separate address, Pope Francis received from a Spanish journalist part of a canoe recovered from the Canary Islands. The archipelago, which is part of Spain, has seen thousands of migrants arrive on its shores from the West African coast in recent months.
“What is happening there is terrible,” the Pope responded.
Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo Batlle met with the Pope on January 15, explained the situation of migrants, and invited the Pope to visit.
