Prefect of Vatican Communications: This is our time to shape the world

By Linda Bordoni

As a revolution is underway in the world of communications, the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication asked: “Are Catholic communicators ready to take up the challenge of creating a community, a platform for sharing and mutual collaboration » as a way to share? the truth and build a better world?

Speaking at the launch of the first national Catholic media conference to be held in Bangalore, India, on November 23-24, Paolo Ruffini said: “We are living in a time of transition: a revolution is taking place. produce in the world of communication.

This is our time

Stressing the urgency for action, he said: “This is our moment. (…) We shape it through what we do and through what we fail to do.

The event, “ILLUMINAIRE: Nurturing Digital Stewardship in the Era of Artificial Intelligence,” aims to explore the impact of social media and artificial intelligence on the lives of consecrated persons while promoting their responsible and ethical use.

Ruffini emphasized that “it’s not just about navigating the digital sea,” which he said would not exist without the people who have the responsibility to shape the world by telling and sharing the truth.

He encouraged his audience to create a network in which to share stories and build relationships and to use artificial intelligence – which he said can be extremely useful but potentially harmful – without losing humanity, but “becoming more mature as human beings.”

He explained that the development of artificial intelligence in communication can contribute to strengthening relationships between individuals or increasing loneliness, “depriving each of us of the warmth that only true communication can bring.”

Responsibility in the use of AI

Ruffini said he was convinced that AI can be used to promote equality – not “new classes based on informational domination” based on new forms of exploitation through “the possession of algorithms and the extracting data from the inexhaustible mine of our lives.”

“The fundamental question concerns humans, not machines; the relationship between humans, not algorithms,” he said.

Ask the question “Are we ready to take on this challenge?” » Ruffini said: “We all know the power of communication to bring out the best in every person. »

“Communication can be the instrument for building a better world, or it can continue to foment misunderstandings, resentments and enmities,” he said, noting that “no investment is too great to disseminate the truth and trigger a dynamic of good in our stories.”

Unity in diversity

Recalling Pope Francis’ encouragement to never be discouraged and to always foster synergy and collaboration among all members of the human family, Ruffini called for commitment “in the construction of communication based on relationship and humanity to fight the virus of division.

“At a time when so many are tempted to build a new Tower of Babel, we are called to serve this miracle of unity in diversity,” he said. “We have to help each other to make this work. »

Digital communication, he concluded, allows us to be connected in ways never before possible, and he expressed confidence that this coming together will result in “viable pathways towards the creation of a community, of a platform for mutual sharing and collaboration.”