Pope: In this age of communication, nobody can say 'I did not know'

[pnwmom]

Pope Leo went on to describe the paradox that "in the age of communication, news and media agencies are undergoing a period of crisis." He added that audiences, too, are in crisis, as too often the line between truth and falsehood becomes increasingly blurred. Still, he continued, in a world saturated with information, "no one today can say, ‘I did not know'."

Information, he stressed, is "a public good" that must be protected through responsible reporting and collaboration between citizens and journalists. A “virtuous circle” is created, he said, when the public actively supports serious and independent journalism—contributing to the health of civic life. . . .

Defending truth in a post-truth world
Bringing his discourse to a close, Pope Leo quoted Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism, warning that the ideal subject of totalitarian regimes is not someone ideologically committed, but rather someone for whom “the distinction between fact and fiction, and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.”

In such a world, he stressed, journalists have a vital role. "With your patient and rigorous work", he continued, "you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing". Journalists, he said, must serve as a "bulwark of civility" against the dangers of post-truth and approximation.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-10/pope-journalism-must-defend-the-truth-in-a-time-of-confusion.html

[mucifer]

1. Can't Pope Leo excommunicate jd vance and the other psycho maga Catholics in

the trump administration? I'm glad he is speaking the truth.

[tulipsandroses]

2. Unfortunately, these days, too few are concerned about the good of the people. Money, Power over everything else

Independent journalists will be more important than ever.
Many are too scared or straddle the both sides fence.
My biggest pet peeve is them just acting like a tape recorder. No follow up questions. Just report any absurd thing said without asking a sensible follow up question.

[summer_in_TX]

3. Hope what the Pope says troubles the conscience of some of the journalists who have been

going along to get along. Playing it safe.

Good for Pope Leo. He's not wasting time speaking about things that matter for democracy and for making life better for people. Moral suasion.

[BaronChocula]

6. "going along to get along"

Love that you said that 'cause that's what I say about journalists/mediafolk. They use the excuse of needing access for not being challenging to their sources (conservative white guys). The ones that speak on the record lie. The ones that tell the truth don't want to be identified. So the buddy-buddy-please-like-me tactic is useless.

[highplainsdem]

4. I admire this pope more and more.

[Joinfortmill]

5. I love him, a truly holy man.

[flashman13]

7. There is some sort of bizarre cosmic irony that the new pope from Chicago is leading the charge against tyranny.

I'm not the least bit religious, but I understand that Leo exemplifies the teachings of Jesus and acts upon them.

[Warpy]

8. Some people are incapable of focusing

while many others simply lack the skills needed to separate the primary sources out from the barrage of bullshit delivered by their phones and social media algorithms. That's just the way it is and they do have an excuse for not knowing. The question is what we're going to do about that.

Personally, I think the first step should be to regulate social media as public utilities, meaning we can regulate the damned things away from using algorithms that favor clickbait instead of, say, time posted. Another thing might be a time out function on that stuff, you can maniacally scroll through your TikTok for an hour, then it shuts off for the next six. They do that in China, but I think the lockout is after 40 minutes, not sure how long it lasts.

The net, like so many things, is a great servant but a rotten master. We need to find out how to tame it, the sheer volume of rubbish is overwhelming too many people.who lack the ability or inclination to sift through all of it to find a nugget of truth.