Pope urges foreign media to use power of press to seek truth

Apostolic Palace.

“We need you and your VATICAN CITY — Pope Franwork to not forget so many cis urged foreign correspon- situations of suffering that dents on Saturday to humoften are in the dark, or bly use the power of the have light shining for a press to search for the truth moment only to return to and give voice to the voicethe darkness of indifferless, saying journalism is an ence,” he said. important tool to counter The association’s presthe hatred, prejudice and ident, Patricia Thomas of fake news. The Associated Press, told

In an audience with the Francis that more and more Foreign Press Association journalists are being killed, in Rome, Francis also urged threatened and imprisjournalists to not fall prey to oned for merely reportsending click-bait headlines ing the news. But she said and half-reported stories, the threats weren’t merely saying errors can not only physical. misrepresent the truth but “Today in many parts of damage entire communities. the world, journalists are

He lamented attacks on being discred ited d aily, journalists around the globe accused of spreading fake and assured reporters that news that is really just news the Catholic Church at large that people in power don’t appreciated their work “even like,” she said. “This prowhen you touch a raw nerve, cess of delegitimization has including within the eccle- had a corrosive effect, the sial community.” dangers of which are obvi

While Francis meets with ous.” journalists regularly during Francis said a free press his foreign trips, it was the was indispensable to guard first time a pope has received against authoritarianism. the Foreign Press Associa“Let’s not forget that in tion, which represents jour- dictatorships, one of the first nalists from more than 50 things they do is take away countries, since St. John Paul the freedom of the press or II in 1988. ‘mask’ and not allow a free

Francis kept his distance press.” from the press in his native But Francis also urged Argentina. But in the past humility in reporting, sayyear, he and his aides have ing reporters who think they repeatedly praised the role know everything before they of the media in exposing the start out aren’t doing their clergy abuse scandal and for job. And he warned against reporting about the plight of parroting the hatred, vitriol migrants, “forgotten wars” and prejudices in the curand other cases of human rent public discourse, urgsuffering. ing instead calibrated lan

“We need journalists who guage that respects the digare on the side of victims, nity of all. on the side of those who Thomas invited Francis to are persecuted, excluded, visit the association’s headthrown away and discrimiquarters, on the approprinated against,” Francis told ately named Via del’Umilta the roughly 400 journalists — Humble Street — and gave and their families in the fres- him an honorary press card coed Sala Clementina of the to get in the door.