John Paul to Families: Turn Off the TV

REUTERS, Jan. 25 — Speaking for World Communications Day, Pope John Paul II criticized much of Western television for its positive presentation of homosexuality, adultery and contraception, Reuters reported.

“Infidelity [and] sexual activity outside of marriage are depicted uncritically, while positive support is at times given to divorce, contraception, abortion and homosexuality,” the Holy Father said. “Such portrayals … are detrimental to the common good of society.”

By way of remedy, John Paul urged parents to get involved in their children's media consumption.

“This would include strictly limiting the time children devote to media … putting some media entirely off limits and periodically excluding all of them for the sake of other family activities,” he said.

The recently appointed secretary to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Bishop Renato Boccardo, echoed the Pope's remarks, telling the Italian paper Avvenire that those who work in media should place two values above all others: “Respect for truth and respect for the person.”

“All those who dedicate themselves to communication should, above all, consider themselves at the service of truth and, therefore, of man,” Bishop Boccardo explained. “It is not enough to recount what has the greatest impact or audience.”

European Unity Award Goes to Pope

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 23 — Pope John Paul II will receive a signal honor this year — a special edition of the International Charlemagne Prize, the Associated Press reported.

The award is given annually by the city of Aachen, the old Holy Roman Empire capital, to leaders who promote European unity. The prize is named for the first Holy Roman emperor, the Blessed Charlemagne (Charles the Great), who was crowned on Christmas Day by Pope Leo III. The empire persisted in some form for more than 1,000 years, ending only with Napoleon's conquest of Austria.

Because his realm spanned most of modern France, Germany and the Low Countries, Charlemagne is seen as an emblem of European unity. Previous recipients of the prize named for the emperor have included such luminaries as Winston Churchill and recent political figures British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bill Clinton.

The award committee lauded “the extraordinary contribution of the Pope to the process of European integration but also his particular effort to exert an influence from Europe on the shaping of the world order.”

Aachen mayor Juergen Linden also pointed to John Paul's role in ending Europe's division along the Iron Curtain.

“Communism would have been overcome without the Pope,” Linden said, “but he helped to ensure that it happened faster and without bloodshed.”

Vatican Replaces Murdered Burundi Nuncio

IRINEWS AFRICA, Jan. 22 — Pope John Paul II has sent Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher to the troubled African nation of Burundi to fill the shoes of Archbishop Michael Courtney, the papal nuncio who was assassinated Dec. 29.

For the past 20 years, Archbishop Gallagher has served alongside Vatican nuncios in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and he recently represented the Holy See before the Council of the European Union in Strasbourg, France.