Ecclesia communicans. Kulturowe aspekty relacji Kościoła do środków masowej komunikacji

Abstract

Using the mass media in the work of evangelisation, the Church made this issue topical during the proceedings of Vatican Council II. A sign of this interest was the decree Inter mirifica issued in 1963. Some time later another document was published. This time it was the instruction Communio et progressio (1977) written by the Papal Council for the Mass Media. The most recent documents in this area include Orientamenti, worked out by the Congregation of Catholic Formation and Seminaries (1986), and the instruction Aetatis novae of 1992. The paper depicts the cultural aspects of the relation between the Church and the media, starting from their negation to their recognition as means of evangelisation. The author elicits from the Magisterium Ecclesiae some postulates with regard to the application of the media in the Church’s mission. Following the Second Vatican Council, he points at the threats that may be associated with the new means of evangelisation.