Pope: Responsibility in use of the media to knock down the walls of misunderstanding at AsiaNews

Before singing the Regina Caeli, Pope Benedict XVI recalled World Communications Day and appealed for a sense of personal responsibility in the face of ambiguity of the media, capable of fomenting violence or of building chains of friendship.

World Communications Day is celebrated at the time of the Ascension of Our Lord. The Holy Father's words are too good for me to bother paraphrasing:

These important tools of communication can foster reciprocal awareness and dialogue, or else the contrary, they can feed prejudice and contempt among individuals and peoples; they can contribute to spreading peace or to fomenting violence. This is why it is always necessary to appeal to a sense of personal responsibility; it is necessary that all do their part to assure objectivity, respect for human dignity and care for the common good in all forms of communication. In this way, one contributes to pulling down the walls of hostility which still separate mankind and chains of friendship and love, which are signs of the Kingdom of God in history, may be consolidated.