• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis greets employees from the Italian state television network RAI and their families in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican March 23, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope asks broadcasters to share the truth, not spread ideology

March 25, 2024
By Justin McLellan
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, Journalism, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Media outlets have a responsibility to share the truth, not spread ideologies, Pope Francis said.

The pope told employees of the Italian state broadcasting corporation, RAI, that their work should be “a response to the needs of citizens,” and he encouraged them to serve the common good “with a spirit of universal openness.”

Meeting employees and their family members in the Vatican audience hall March 23, Pope Francis said broadcasting the news as a public service “essentially means to seek and promote the truth, the whole truth” by “countering the spread of fake news” and “deceitful” efforts to spread ideologies.

“Truth is one,” he said, “it is harmonious, it cannot be divided with self-interest.”

The pope asked the RAI broadcasters to provide people with correct information “transmitted without prejudice” by ensuring a “pluralism that respects different opinions and sources.”

He told them to engage with a variety of voices by “cultivating dialogue” and listening to others.

Too often, he said, people appear to be listening while they really are just preparing a response, “but to think of my position without receiving (the position) of others is not true dialogue.”

Although he had an aide read many of his speeches in the days before the audience, Pope Francis read all of his prepared remarks to the RAI managers and staff and even added spontaneous comments. After his speech, he spent time moving through the crowd in a wheelchair to greet the employees and their families.

In his speech, Pope Francis also spoke about the RAI networks’ fictional series, cultural programming, sporting events and children’s shows.

“In our age rich in technology but sometimes poor in humanity, it is important to promote the pursuit of beauty,” he said, encouraging the broadcasters to help people find meaning in life by diffusing artistic expression.

And he encouraged them to give voice to “the last, the poorest, the voiceless, the discarded” in their programming.  

To serve the common good through the media “implies a vocation to be an instrument of growth in knowledge,” he said, and he urged them not to alienate people or “feed bubbles of self-serving indifference” with their content.

“You must not chase ratings at the expense of content,” he said, but rather build a “widespread demand for quality.”

Communication, he said, “can play a fundamental role in our time in reweaving socially vital values such as citizenship and participation.”

The pope added that true communication “is always a surprise” that involves “informing and also listening, with respect and humility.”

Read More Vatican News

Parishes need to launch ‘revolution of care’ for the elderly, pope says

Body of Blessed Frassati, relic of Blessed Acutis will be in Rome for Jubilee

Pope celebrates Apollo 11 anniversary with peek at the heavens, call to astronaut

Pope, Palestinian president discuss humanitarian tragedy in Gaza during phone call

Pope condemns Israel’s attack against church, calls for end to ‘barbarity’

Pope: Summer marks time to balance busyness with rest, prayer, joy with loved ones

Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Justin McLellan

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

  • Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

  • Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

  • A butterfly lands on a flowering bush with purple blossoms A Miracle for a Baby in Rhode Island (and for all of us)

| Latest Local News |

Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

Driver arrested after crashing into entrance of Esperanza Center

Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

| Latest World News |

Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man

Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says

New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program

Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options

Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man
  • Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says
  • New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program
  • Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options
  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary
  • LA archbishop, joined by business leaders, starts fund to help families affected by ICE raids
  • FBI surveilled SSPX priest amid probe of suspected neo-Nazi’s plans for violence
  • Poland’s ‘living memorial’ to St. John Paul II marks 25 years of transforming lives
  • Our faith is not afraid of questions

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en