Europe's Bishops Reflect on Church and Media
See a Need to Work Together to Promote Peace
 

MAYNOOTH, Ireland, JULY 27, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Church and media need to work together in an environment of understanding and tolerance, concluded the media officers of the bishops' conferences of Europe.

The media professionals gathered for their annual meeting, organized by the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), in Ireland from July 20-23.

Bishop Joseph Duffy, president of the Social Communications Commission of the Irish episcopal conference, invited the participants to reflect more deeply on the relationship between the Church and the media.

"Perhaps a starting point could be to explore how we can achieve a greater level of understanding and tolerance between the Church and the world of the media," he said. "Our task is to create an environment within which Church and media working relations will become more fruitful and more responsive to new avenues of truth."

The president of the Irish episcopate, Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh, invited media officers and spokesmen of the bishops' conferences to "discuss the most effective way of mobilizing world opinion in support of peace at this time of huge threat."

"One of the reasons why CCEE exists is to help in overcoming obstacles which threaten the future of peace and the progress of peoples," he said.

The meeting also touched on the topic of the presence of Islam in Europe. Conferees said that correct information is decisive for peaceful coexistence and collaboration with Muslims in Europe, reported the CCEE.

Freedom of the press

The topic freedom of the press and respect for religions was introduced by the Auxiliary Bishop Peter Henrici of Chur, Switzerland, president of the European Episcopal Committee for Media. He noted that "freedom of the press is a social and political human right, not just the right of an individual, like freedom of opinion and religious freedom."

Its consequence on the ethical plane is that "freedom of the press must regulate itself first of all according to the principles of social ethics, which are: the common good, the principle of solidarity and the principle of subsidiarity," the prelate said.

"Secondly," Bishop Henrici added, "freedom of the press must confront the principles of individual journalistic ethics: truth, integrity and respect for the people to whom one is communicating and to the people and communities about which one is being informed."

"The application of these principles in the religious sphere is particularly delicate and makes the communicator's work difficult," the bishop said.

Bishop Henrici added: "Religion tends to define not only individual identity but above all community identity and, in itself, it is a common good to be protected."

"Furthermore, we find ourselves faced with different religious 'truths' in competition with each other and the communicator, too, who is a supporter of one religious truth," he said. "From this stems the difficulty in understanding the religion of others and being objectively informed about it.

"A communicator whose concern is religion must accept fully on the one hand his religious belonging, and on the other be able to be objective, able to distinguish between information, and comment on information."