The Historical Relationship between Social Media and the Action of the Communications Pastoral of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Santa Ana

Abstract

To communicate for the church is not an option but a mission. This awareness of the mission should be appropriated not only by the dioceses but also by the church movements and the lay people committed who, all together, should take this responsibility seriously. Many Pontiffs have taken action on this matter, and the first one was Pío XI who used the television to send his greetings to the Catholic world in 1927. After that, Saint John XXIII oriented the church about the ethical and moral use of social media through the Motus Propio Boni Pastoris. He constituted the Pontifical Commission for the Cinema, Radio and Television that was in charge of examining the various matters related to the cinema, the radio and the television, and this commission was also in charge of helping these media progress and directing their activity in accordance with the norms and prescriptions of the Encyclical Miranda Prorsus. But the most complete and important document was the conciliar decree Inter Mirifica about social media under the pontificate of Paul VI. Finally, for the twentieth anniversary of Communio et Progessio, John Paul II approved the Pastoral Instruction Aetatis Novae about social media. The church is the depositary of a Truth that should reach all men; this is one of the reasons why a combination between the church and media seems to be inseparable. The church should find an excellent support in social media in order to disseminate the Gospel and religious values and to promote an ecumenical and interreligious cooperation. Such support should also serve to defend the solid principles that are indispensable in the construction of a society that respects the dignity of the human person and common good.