NEW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Pope Benedict XVI, Shepherd of Truth

Notable quotations from Pope Benedict XVI and official
teachings of the Roman Catholic Church

"FUNDAMENTAL SHIFTS"

The new digital technologies are ... bringing about fundamental shifts in patterns of communication and human relationships.

"AT HOME IN A DIGITAL WORLD"

These changes are particularly evident among those young people who have grown up with the new technologies and are at home in a digital world ...

"TRULY A GIFT"

These technologies are truly a gift to humanity and we must endeavor to ensure that the benefits they offer are put at the service of all human individual and communities, especially those who are most disadvantaged and vulnerable.

"ENORMOUS CAPACITY"

Young people ... have grasped the enormous capacity of the new media to foster connectedness, communication and understanding between individual and communities and they are turning to them as means of communicating ...

"A TRAGEDY FOR THE FUTURE"

It would be a tragedy for the future of humanity if the new instruments of communication ... were not made accessible to those who are already economically and socially marginalized, or if it should contribute only to increasing the gap separating the poor from the new networks that are developing at the service of human socialization and information.

PROCLAIM CHRIST

The proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound knowledge of this world ... It falls to young people ... to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this "digital continent".

BE ENTHUSIASTIC

Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm ... Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds!

(Source: Message for World Communications Day, dated January 24, 2009)