His Holiness Pope Leo XIV: Information must not turn into propaganda, especially amid war

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV meets with Italian journalists of the state-run RAI news program TG2  (@Vatican Media)

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV meets with Italian journalists from the news broadcast TG2 and warns against the media becoming a “megaphone” for power, especially in times of conflict.

By Isabella H. de Carvalho

In times of war, the media must recount conflicts from the human perspective of those who are suffering and avoid becoming a “megaphone” for power, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV said on Monday.

“Always, but especially in the dramatic circumstances of war such as those we are experiencing, information must guard against the risk of turning into propaganda,” he said in an address to journalists of the news broadcast TG2, by the Italian state-owned TV Channel Rai 2.

In these times of conflict, “the task of journalists, in verifying the news so as not to become a megaphone for power, becomes even more urgent and delicate—and indeed, essential,” he continued.

The Pope highlighted that it is the media’s job “to show the suffering that war always brings to populations, to show the face of war, and to tell it through the eyes of the victims so that it does not turn into a video game.”

He acknowledged that “it is not easy within the few minutes of a news broadcast and its analysis segments,” but underlined that “this is the challenge.”

The Pope met with Rai’s TG2 newsroom at the Vatican in light of the 50th anniversary of their founding in 1976.

Technology cannot replace critical discernment

Reflecting on this anniversary, the Pope highlighted the importance of bringing a human perspective to the media in the face of rapid technological developments.

He pointed out that various changes have occurred in television journalism in the last decades, such as “the transition from analog to digital.”

In this regard, he emphasized “that no technological innovation can replace creativity, critical discernment, and freedom of thought.”

“Since the challenge of our time is that of artificial intelligence, I think of the need to regulate communication according to the human paradigm and not the technological one,” he explained, adding that this “means, ultimately, knowing how to distinguish between the means and the ends.”

Openness in an era of polarization

Continuing on this line of thought, the Pope also noted the importance of openness in the media and of not trying to simply confirm one’s own perspective.

He applauded the TG2 journalists for their “secularism and the pluralism of news sources,” even in state television. He defined secularism as “a rejection of ideological preconceptions and as an open-minded view of reality”…

This report was originally published on the Website of Vatican News. Please click here to read the full text.