Faced with a rapidly developing digital world, the Church cannot just work on the Internet; she must be there, leaving a visible trace of her presence. This is one of the conclusions drawn by the Congress "Digital witnesses: Faces and languages of the cross-media era", which was organized by the Italian Episcopal Conference in Rome from April 22nd to 24th.More than 1,200 participants reflected on how to make full use of the opportunities that the digital media has to offer, without giving up their fidelity to the Gospel message.Pompili: "I believe that the Church herself is called upon this new language to have a strong impact on relationships, in rediscovering her primordial vocation, which is to establish a direct contact -- face to face -- where the word of the Gospel can stimulate people."Viganò: "With regard to the Internet, the Church immediately showed great interest. If we enter the Internet, we find a great number of young people, youth groups, blogs, websites... So this interest in some way led [the Church] to settle in the Internet -- sometimes even a little superficially -- mostly using it as display window for her own initiatives, shifting to the internet what used to be on paper."Pompili: "I agree that in certain ecclesiastic milieus, there is occasionally a somewhat instrumental use of the Internet, as if it were simply an amplifier. In fact, the issue is rather a cultural one, that is, we must see the Internet not only as an instrument, but also as a milieu that is slowly shaping us, and that, to a certain degree, demands our responsibility, so that we may value the positive and potential elements of the Internet -- such as relation dynamics and possibilities for dialogue -- and even mitigate its dangers and ambiguities, such as fragmentation, superficiality and trivialization."Viganò: "I believe that this congress points to the idea of turning over a new leaf, that is, to say: Okay, we are now aware that we have an opportunity, another very important chance. And so we must take on a specific image; then we must revive that strong and primary desire for the Gospel, as the Pope said: More than the 'hand of the operator', what must emerge on the Internet is the passionate heart of the disciple for the Teacher; and finally, we must participate in a more systematic and coordinated manner. Because, as I believe, this perhaps will not lead to evangelization on the Internet, but it will at least deepen the contents of faith that are the necessary premise so that evangelization can welcome the gift of grace, which is faith itself, that no one can obtain, but only receive."http://www.testimonidigitali.it/

Faced with a rapidly developing digital world, the Church cannot just work on the Internet; she must be there, leaving a visible trace of her presence. This is one of the conclusions drawn by the...leggi tutto