VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – If he were alive today, even St. Paul would text, tweet, and fire emails to get the news out, Pope Francis said Saturday in his post for World Social Communication Day. Catholic Church.
St. Paul, who lived in the first century of the Christian era, spread the New Faith in Europe and Asia Minor and is said to have written much of the New Testament.
“Every tool has its value, and that great communicator that Paul of Tarsus was would certainly have used email and social messaging,” the Pope said in the message, entitled “Come and see.”
Still, Francis said that Paul was at his best while preaching in person, and said journalists and other communicators today should do more to “take to the streets … meet people in person to watch investigative stories or to see certain situations firsthand. to verify “.
He said that too often research reporting was replaced by a “standard, often biased narrative” that failed to capture problems and ambitions at the root.
“In communication, nothing can ever completely replace seeing things in person,” he said.
The world is deeply indebted to journalists, camera managers, photographers and others, who often risk their lives to seek the truth, he added.
“Thanks to their efforts, we now know, for example, about the hardships endured by persecuted minorities in different parts of the world, numerous cases of oppression and injustice against the poor and the environment, and many wars that would otherwise be overlooked. ,” he said.
Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Helen Popper