Pope Francis, with Caritas Internationalis, launched "Share the Journey" campaign in support of immigrants. CNS Pope to focus on ‘fake news’
Given the strong divisions sparked and fueled by “fake news,” Pope Francis is highlighting the importance of truth in his message for World Communications Day.
The message will call for studying the causes and consequences of baseless information and will promote “professional journalism”, which always seeks the truth and therefore peace and understanding in the world, the Vatican Secretariat for Communication said.
“‘The truth will set you free’: Fake news and journalism for peace” will be the theme of the Church’s celebration of World Communications Day 2018. The day’s theme is announced every year on September 29, the feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
The theme Pope Francis chose “relates to so-called ‘fake news’. Namely baseless information that contributes to generating and nurturing a strong polarization of opinions,” the announcement said. “It involves an often misleading distortion of facts, with possible repercussions at the level of individual and collective behaviour.”
With so many key players in the world of social media, internet and politics beginning to face the phenomenon, it said, “the Church, too, wishes to offer a contribution.”
‘Pray for protection’
The archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael help encourage and accompany Christians on life’s journey and defend them from the devil, Pope Francis said.
While the three archangels serve the Lord and contemplate his glory, God also “sends them to accompany us on the road of life”, the Pope said in his homily at morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
They have “an important role in our journey toward salvation,” he said. For instance, Michael has been tasked with waging war against the devil, who is a “nuisance in our life”.
The devil seduces everyone, like he did Eve, with convincing arguments and temptations, the Pope said.
“The Lord asks (Michael) to wage war,” he said, and “Michael helps us wage war, to not be seduced.”
Gabriel, on the other hand, is the bearer of good news, the news of salvation. He, too, is with the people and helps when “we forget” the Gospel and forget that “Jesus came to be with us” to save us.
Raphael, the Pope said, is the one who “walks with us,” protecting people from the “seduction of taking the wrong step”.
Vatican advises on UN compacts on refugee crisis
While encouraging Catholics to reach out to migrants and refugees, the Vatican is reaching out to governments as they struggle to work out international policies and principles for dealing with the large number of people fleeing violence and poverty.
The involvement of the Church and Church agencies in the UN process for drafting the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees goes hand in hand with the much more personalised effort to encourage individual Catholics to meet a migrant or refugee and listen to that person’s story.
Pope Francis launched Caritas Internationalis’ “Share the Journey” campaign inviting all Catholics to extend a hand of welcome to a migrant or refugee.
The Pope himself oversees the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and he has approved specific “action points” or concrete proposals the Vatican wants to see incorporated into the global compacts.
The 20 points, drafted in consultation with several bishops’ conferences and Catholic organisations working with refugees and migrants, are explained in separate notes.