“It is a paradox that in the age of communication, news and media agencies are undergoing a period of crisis,” Pope Leo told journalists at a conference in Rome last week. He quoted the late Hannah Arendt, who warned that what the authoritarian ruler wants in their readers and listeners is not “the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist”. The Pope told the journalists their work was more vital than ever. “You can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing.”

Get Instant Access

Continue Reading

Register for free to read this article in full

REGISTER

Subscribe for unlimited access

SUBSCRIBE NOW

From just £37.50 quarterly

  Print copy of The Tablet delivered directly to your door.
  Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
  Access to the weekly digital copy of The Tablet.
  Full access to The Tablet’s archive – over 180 years of back issues.

Already a subscriber? Login