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                             Vatican Information Service.   
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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   DECIPHER REALITY FROM AN EVANGELICAL STANDPOINT   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 26 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received three hundred   
   representatives from the Italian Federation of Catholic Weeklies a body which,   
   since 1966, has represented all diocesan and Catholic-inspired weekly   
   publications in the country.   
      
   In his address to them the Pope affirmed that creating channels of   
   communication between the various organs of the local press "was a response to   
   the need to promote collaboration ... so as to increase the efficiency and   
   incisiveness of the announcement of the evangelical message. The specific   
   function of Catholic-inspired newspapers", he said, "is to announce the Good   
   News by recounting the concrete events that Christian communities experience in   
   the real situations in which they live".   
      
   "One of the most important cultural challenges in our own post-modern world   
   involves the way we understand truth. The dominant culture, the culture   
   propagated by the areopagus of the media, adopts a sceptical and relativist   
   attitude towards truth, considering it as equivalent to mere opinion and,   
   consequently, believing that many truths can legitimately coexist. But the   
   desire that lies in the heart of man testifies to the impossibility of resting   
   content with partial truths. ... The truth for which man thirsts is a person:   
   the Lord Jesus. By encountering this Truth ... we find peace and true   
   happiness. The Church's mission consists in creating the conditions that make   
   this meeting between man and Christ possible.   
      
   "Collaborating in this task", he added, "the communications media are called to   
   serve the truth with courage so as to help public opinion contemplate and   
   decipher reality from an evangelical standpoint. This means presenting the   
   reasons for the faith which, as such, surpass any ideological vision and have   
   the full right to exist in public debate. From here arises your constant   
   commitment to give voice to a point of view that reflects Catholic thought in   
   all ethical and social questions".   
      
   "Continue to be newspapers of the people", Benedict XVI concluded. "Seek to   
   favour true dialogue between the various elements of social life, be arenas for   
   confrontation and debate between contrasting opinions. By doing this, the   
   Catholic press, while undertaking the vital task of informing, will also play   
   an indispensable formational role, promoting evangelical knowledge of complex   
   reality, and educating critical minds and Christian consciences".   
   AC/VIS 20101126 (380)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)