Media must promote peace, understanding among people: Pope

Vatican City – The Pope, John Paul II, in his 2005 message for World Communication Day, urged the media to serve the cause of peace by promoting the understanding among people.

In 2005, the theme chosen for World Communication Day, May 8, is “The Communications Media at the Service of Understanding among Peoples.”

According to the pontiff, modern technology has the potential for spreading goodness, the “truth of our salvation in Jesus Christ, and for fostering harmony and reconciliation.”

“Yet its misuse can do untold harm, giving rise to misunderstanding, prejudice and even conflict,” the Pope warned.

In his message that was translated in over six languages, the pontiff cautioned communicators about an "urgent need" to “promote the unity of the human family through the use made of these great resources.”

The Pope stressed that the media has the capability to “promote the unity of the human family” as it can teach billions of people about other parts of the world and other cultures.

Media can help build peace by imparting accurate information as “accurate knowledge promotes understanding, dispels prejudice, and awakens a desire to learn more,” he said, adding, “when others are portrayed in hostile terms, seeds of conflict are sown which can all too easily escalate into violence, war, or even genocide.”

"Indeed, the media have enormous potential for promoting peace and building bridges between peoples, breaking the fatal cycle of violence, reprisal and fresh violence that is so widespread today," he continued.

Commending the influence of the media that helped mobilize and coordinate relief operations in response to natural disasters like the recent tsunami, the head of the Catholic Church said that “The human person and the human community are the end and measure of the use of the media of social communication.”

“My prayer on this year's World Communications Day is that the men and women of the media will play their part in breaking down the dividing walls of hostility in our world, walls that separate peoples and nations from one another, feeding misunderstanding and mistrust,” the Pope concluded.