In the first audience of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV hosted journalists at the Vatican after they had covered the recent papal funeral and conclave.
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — In his first audience, Pope Leo XIV urged journalists who covered the recent conclave to use communication to promote “peace.”
On Monday morning, Leo XIV joined some 2,500 journalists in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican City to host the first audience of his pontificate. The address served to highlight certain themes which are already emerging as the key elements of his papacy: namely, calls for peace in global conflicts and a Christo-centric approach to life.
Centering his speech around Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Leo reiterated the importance of peace for the media world so that it “never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it.”
Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others. In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: we must say “no” to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war.
Many thousands of journalists, secular and Catholic, have been present in Rome for a number of weeks to cover the ceremonies of Holy Week, the papal funeral, and conclave. Prior to that, since early February, the Vatican press corps had already experienced a frenzied level of activity with the hospitalization of Pope Francis.
READ: Leo XIV calls for end to global wars in first Sunday address
Referencing this aspect, the new Pope spoke of the importance of the role of journalists to present the Church’s teaching and to build the culture:
We are living in times that are both difficult to navigate and to recount. They present a challenge for all of us but it is one that we should not run away from. On the contrary, they demand that each one of us, in our different roles and services, never give in to mediocrity. The Church must face the challenges posed by the times. In the same way, communication and journalism do not exist outside of time and history. Saint Augustine reminds of this when he said, “Let us live well, and the times will be good. We are the times” (Discourse 311).
Pope Francis often highlighted “fake news” in his speeches to members of the media. Leo XIV seemed instead to focus on the importance of communications being more specifically related to representing Church matters and, by extension, then dealing with wider cultural issues in this light.
Leo’s message, while dealing with tenets of good journalism to promote peace, nevertheless also gave strong priority to Catholic elements and spirituality.
This he extended to issues facing journalists as he mentioned the “Church’s solidarity for journalists imprisoned for seeking to report to the truth.” Continuing, he added:
The Church recognises in these witnesses – I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives – the courage of those who defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices. The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press.
The Pontiff also paid attention to artificial intelligence and the dangers posed by it – a factor which he said in the past few days was a key part of his choosing the name Leo, in honor of Leo XIII who also dealt with industrial revolution in his time.
Today’s audience marked the first audience the new Pope has held, and is reminiscent of a similar meeting which Pope Francis held with the media a few days after his election in March 2013.
Previous days have been taken with the initial stages of the pontificate, including a first Mass between the Pope and the cardinals and a private visit of Leo to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Genazzano on Saturday.
Such encounters will continue this week as the Pope meets members of the diplomatic corps and then takes possession of the Vatican Basilica on May 18.
