Communicators of Hope
Last week on Friday, Jan. 24, Pope Francis celebrated the 59th World Day of Social Communications. This year, the celebration was part of the Church’s Jubilee of the World of Communications, which drew more than 10,000 participants from 138 countries to Rome, during which Pope Francis gave a number of addresses. World Day of Social Communications, Jan. 24, is the feast of St. Francis de Sales, a great Bishop and Doctor of the Church who lived during the 16th and 17th centuries. He was an outstanding teacher and gifted writer who authored countless books, sermons, treatises and letters on the spiritual life. He is the patron of communications and media within the Church.
During this year’s celebration of world communications, Pope Francis spoke on many different topics pertaining to communications in conjunction with the theme of the Jubilee Year of Hope. In his message to journalists on the feast of Saint Francis de Sales, the pope emphasized that they should be “communicators of hope” in our time, which is so characterized by misinformation and polarization. Media often, in the words of the pope, “simplifies reality in order to provoke instinctive reactions; it uses words like a razor; it even uses false or artfully distorted information to send messages designed to agitate, provoke or hurt.”
We must be very cautious in an age of instant communication that the communicator does not become the center of attention, as should be the information that is being communicated. Such communication has inherent within it a great deal of power and authority in so far as it influences those to whom it is being communicated. In the world today, which is so concerned about the abuse of authority and power, media and communicators must be extremely careful not to assume that power to themselves. It is the message that is important and not the one who communicates it.
In a talk to Church communicators on Monday, Jan. 27, Pope Francis expressed that communicators need to examine their method and motivations so that they are not prone to the temptations of “self-promotion” and “the celebration of their own initiatives.” He questioned them, “Let us ask ourselves: what do we do to sow hope in the midst of all the despair that surrounds and challenges us? What do we do to overcome the virus of division that undermines our communities? Is our communication inspired by prayer? Or do we limit ourselves to communicating about the Church by we following the rules laid down by corporate marketing?”
In the context of speaking to communicators, the pope expressed his concerns about artificial intelligence. He said, “What worries me — more than artificial intelligence — is natural intelligence, the intelligence that we must develop.” These words are so significant to us today, when natural intelligence is submitting to the power of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence can produce a great deal of good, but it also can produce a great deal of harm.
The more artificial intelligence becomes an objective, the more it will replace the heart of the human person. It is interesting to note how today young people are no longer taught what was considered a development in human intelligence, which is cursive writing. Many have experienced how younger people do not understand notes written to them by older relatives because they are handwritten and not in print. Younger people no longer communicate in handwriting but by means of texting and dictating messages. It is interesting to see computers often making errors in basic grammar and punctuation when someone has typed something on them. These are some indications of how artificial intelligence can overtake human intelligence. Wisdom comes from the heart and not from algorithms.
St. Francis de Sales is a good model for us in our modern world today faced with so many advances in technology that can harm our personal communication with each other. His motto was “The heart speaks to the heart.” St. John Henry Cardinal Newman took that motto from him. How much we need that heart speaking to each other in our world today if we truly want to communicate and to listen. How much that heart is important as we strive to foster hope, that is true hope and not delusion. In his message on World Day of Social Communications, Pope Francis quoted the encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI on hope, Spe Salvi, which stresses that hope is not passive optimism but virtue capable of changing our lives. Pope Benedict expressed, “The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hope has been granted the gift of a new life.” It is hope that encourages the heart to speak to the heart, which we need so much in our world today.
Following the World Day of Social Communication, the Vatican issued, through the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of Pope Francis, a new document, Antiqua et Nova, addressing the ethical and anthropological implications of artificial intelligence. This document is the most thorough examination of artificial intelligence up until this time and reflects the pope’s cautious insight in this regard. The document was issued on Jan. 28, the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, who is considered one of the leading theologians and intellectuals of the Church from the 13th century.
The document makes clear that there are many concerns which must be considered in regard to using artificial intelligence. It also stresses that artificial intelligence is by no means a substitute for human intelligence. In fact, the term is itself misleading because there is no intelligence aside from human intelligence. The document states that, “Human intelligence is not primarily about completing functional tasks, but about understanding and actively engaging with reality in all its dimensions; it is also capable of surprising insights. Since AI lacks the richness of corporality, nationality and the openness of the human heart to truth and goodness, it’s capabilities — though seemingly limitless — are incomparable with the human ability to grasp reality.” Artificial intelligence is not an equal or superior form of intelligence.
A great danger of artificial intelligence is that it can be used solely for corporate development and achievement. It can disrupt the labor force, discourage face-to-face human relationships, degrade privacy, give false information and be deployed in warfare that has the power to directly take lives. Artificial intelligence needs to be used with great human oversight, always understanding the human person is made in the image and likeness of God. AI must respect and promote the intrinsic dignity of every human being, regardless of condition or background. The document concludes by stressing what Pope Francis has consistently said in regard to true wisdom, which is not just about learning and mastering technical skills. True wisdom is about integrating human intellect with our God-given capacity to appreciate the values of truth, goodness and beauty which stems from the “wisdom of the heart.”
The insights of World Day of Social Communications, and the document on artificial intelligence, Antiqua et Nova, remind us of our dignity as human persons and the need to promote that dignity through the means which God has given to us. We live at a time when human dignity is underappreciated, and technological advances can undermine the true meaning of human life. As Pope Francis reminds us during this Jubilee Year, “hope does not disappoint,” and it is only the human heart which truly appreciates true hope and wisdom.
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
