The Vatican and the Internet

In this information age, the Vatican is writing about the Internet in the life of the Church and World. Since 1997, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications produced the following documents:

Ethics in Advertising (1997)
A reflection to call attention to positive contributions that advertising can and does make; to note ethical and moral problems that advertising can and does raise; to point to moral principles that apply to this field.

Ethics in Communications (2000)
In this document we are reminded that “The contents of the countless choices made by all these people concerning the media are different from group to group and individual to individual, but the choices all have ethical weight and are subject to ethical evaluation. To choose rightly, those choosing need to "know the principles of the moral order and apply them faithfully" (Inter Mirifica, 4).”

Ethics in Internet (2002)
An opportunity to see that “Today it takes no great stretch of the imagination to envisage the earth as an interconnected globe humming with electronic transmissions—a chattering planet nestled in the provident silence of space. The ethical question is whether this is contributing to authentic human development and helping individuals and peoples to be true to their transcendent destiny.”

The Church and Internet (2002)
In this document we learn that “…the Internet, which is helping bring about revolutionary changes in commerce, education, politics, journalism, the relationship of nation to nation and culture to culture—changes not just in how people communicate but in how they understand their lives. … we consider the Internet's implications for religion and especially for the Catholic Church.”

World Communications Day, May 2002 Theme: Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel
The annual message from the pope for World Communications Day focuses on the topic of the Internet. He reminds us that online technology offers “magnificent opportunities” for evangelization, especially among young people who increasingly use the Web as a “window on the world.”