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13. All the children of the Church should join, without delay and
with the greatest effort in a common work to make effective use of the
media of social communication in various apostolic endeavors, as
circumstances and conditions demand. They should anticipate harmful
developments, especially in regions where more urgent efforts to
advance morality and religion are needed.
Pastors should hasten, therefore, to fulfill their duty in this
respect, one which is intimately linked with their ordinary preaching
responsibility. The laity, too, who have something to do with the
use of these media, should endeavor to bear witness to Christ, first
of all by carrying out their individual duties or office expertly and
with an apostolic spirit, and, further, by being of direct help in
the pastoral activity of the Church-to the best of their
ability-through their technical, economic, cultural and artistic
talents.
14. First, a good press should be fostered. To instill a fully
Christian spirit into readers, a truly Catholic press should be set
up and encouraged. Such a press-whether immediately fostered and
directed by ecclesiastical authorities or by Catholic laymen-should be
edited with the clear purpose of forming, supporting and advancing
public opinion in accord with natural law and Catholic teaching and
precepts. It should disseminate and properly explain news concerning
the life of the Church. Moreover, the faithful ought to be advised
of the necessity both to spread and read the Catholic press to
formulate Christian judgments for themselves on all events.
The production and showing of films that have value as decent
entertainment, humane culture or art, especially when they are
designed for young people, ought to be encouraged and assured by every
effective means. This can be done particularly by supporting and
joining in projects and enterprises for the production and distribution
of decent films, by encouraging worthwhile films through critical
approval and awards, by patronizing or jointly sponsoring theaters
operated by Catholic and responsible managers.
Similarly, effective support should be given to good radio and
television programs, above all those that are suitable for families.
Catholic programs should be promoted, in which listeners and viewers
can be brought to share in the life of the Church and learn religious
truths. An effort should also be made, where it may be necessary, to
set up Catholic stations. In such instances, however, care must be
taken that their programs are outstanding for their standards of
excellence and achievement.
In addition, there should be an effort to see that the noble and
ancient art of the drama, which now is diffused everywhere by the media
of social communication, serves the cultural and moral betterment of
audiences.
15. To provide for the needs just set forth, priests, religious
and laymen who are equipped with the proper skills for adapting these
media to the objectives of the apostolate should be appointed promptly.
Importantly, laymen ought to be afforded technical, doctrinal and
moral training. For this purpose, the number of school faculties and
institutes should be increased, where newsmen, writers for screen,
radio and television and all other interested parties can obtain a sound
training that is imbued with the Christian spirit, especially with
respect to the social teaching of the Church.
Finally, care must be taken to prepare literary, film, radio,
television and other critics, who will be equipped with the best skills
in their own crafts and trained and encouraged to render judgments which
always put moral issues in their proper light.
16. Since the proper use of the media of social communications which
are available to audiences of different cultural backgrounds and ages,
calls for instruction proper to their needs, programs which are
suitable for the purpose-especially where they are designed for young
people-should be encouraged, increased in numbers and organized
according to Christian moral principles. This should be done in
Catholic schools at every level, in seminaries and in lay apostolate
groups. To speed this along catechetical manuals should present and
explain Catholic teaching and regulations on this matter.
17. It is quite unbecoming for the Church's children idly to
permit the message of salvation to be thwarted or impeded by the
technical delays or expenses, however vast, which are encountered by
the very nature of these media. Therefore, this sacred Synod advises
them of the obligation they have to maintain and assist Catholic
newspapers, periodicals and film projects, radio and television
programs and stations, whose principal objective is to spread and
defend the truth and foster Christian influence in human society. At
the same time, the Synod earnestly invites those organizations and
individuals who possess financial and technical ability to support these
media freely and generously with their resources and their skills,
inasmuch as they contribute to genuine culture and the apostolate.
18. Moreover, that the varied apostolates of the Church with
respect to the media of social communication may be strengthened
effectively, each year in every diocese of the world, by the
determination of the Bishops, there should be celebrated a day on
which the faithful are instructed in their responsibilities in this
regard. They should be invited to pray and contribute funds for this
cause. Such funds are to be expended exclusively on the promotion,
maintenance and development of institutes and undertakings of the
Church in this area, according to the needs of the whole Catholic
world.
19. In fulfilling his supreme pastoral charge with respect to the
media of social communication, the Sovereign Pontiff has at hand a
special office of the Holy See. Moreover, the Fathers of the
Council, freely acceding to the wish of the "Secretariat for the
Supervision of Publications and Entertainment," reverently request
that the Sovereign Pontiff extend the duties and competence of this
office to include all media of social communication, including the
press, and that experts from various countries be named to it,
including laymen.
20. It will be the task of the Bishops, however, to watch over
such works and undertakings in their own dioceses, to promote them
and, as far as the public apostolate is concerned, to guide them, not
excluding those that are under the direction of exempt religious.
21. Since an effective apostolate on a national scale calls for
unity of planning and resources, this sacred Synod decrees and orders
that national offices for affairs of the press, films, radio and
television be established everywhere and given every aid. It will be
the special task of these offices to see to it that the consciences of
the faithful are properly instructed with respect to these media.
Likewise they should foster and guide whatever is done by Catholics in
these areas.
In each country the direction of such offices should be entrusted to a
special committee of Bishops, or to a single Bishop. Moreover,
laymen who are experts in Catholic teaching and in these arts or
techniques should have a role in these offices.
22. Since the effectiveness of these media reaches beyond national
boundaries and has an impact on individual members of the whole human
family, national offices should co-operate among themselves on an
international plane. The offices spoken of in Number 21 should
assiduously work together with their own international Catholic
associations. These Catholic international associations are
legitimately approved by the Holy See alone and depend on it.
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