address of the holy father pope john paul ii to conference on biblical language and media monday, 28...
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ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER
POPE JOHN PAUL II TO CONFERENCE ON BIBLICAL LANGUAGE
AND MEDIA Monday, 28 September 1981. I am pleased to welcome you on the occasion of the International Study
Conference on the theme:
“Biblical Language and Contemporary Communication”,
organized by Lux Vide. I thank Dr Ettore Bernabei, President of the Lux Company,
for his courteous words to me on behalf of you all. I extend a cordial greeting to everyone present, scholars in biblical
exegesis and experts in the modern means of social communication, who are taking
part in this interesting congress.
1. Your visit offers me the welcome opportunity to express my esteem and
appreciation for your professional commitment to studying and spreading the biblical message among a broader public by the powerful means of communication, in particular through cinema and television.
This is a service of high human and spiritual value, which deserves to be
increasingly broadened and enhanced. For this reason, an international study
conference on the subject cannot fail to arouse interest.
Providentially, it is one of the many hermeneutical efforts which at various
levels today are leading to ever new ways of expressing the sacred text in
contemporary form.
2. When the meeting between divine Revelation and the
modern media is conducted with respect for the truth of the
biblical message and the correct use of technical means, it bears abundant good fruits.
On the one hand, it means elevating the mass media to one of the its noblest tasks,
which in some way redeems it from improper and sometimes
trivializing uses. On the other, it offers new and
extraordinarily effective possibilities for introducing the general public to God’s Word
communicated for the salvation of all mankind.
2. It should immediately be noted that the nature of Sacred Scripture has two basic features which differ from one another but are closely
connected. They are, on the one hand, the
absolutely transcendent dimension of God’s Word, and, on the other, the equally important dimension of
its inculturation.
Because of the first characteristic, the Bible cannot be reduced to
human words alone and, therefore, to a mere cultural
product. However, because of the second
characteristic, it inevitably and profoundly shares in human
history and reflects its cultural co-ordinates.
2. Precisely for this reason — here is
the important consequence —
the Word of God has
“the capability of being spread in
other cultures, in such a way as to reach all human
beings in the cultural context in which they live”.
2. This is what was fittingly recalled in the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s
Instruction on The Interpretation of the Bible in the
Church (Part IV, B, Vatican City 1993, p. 117),
which says specifically: “The ever increasing importance of
the instruments of mass communication (‘mass media’) — the
press, radio, television — requires that proclamation of the
Word of God and knowledge of the Bible be propagated by these means. Their very distinctive features and, on
the other hand, their capacity to influence a vast public require a particular training in their use.
This will help to avoid paltry improvisations, along with striking
effects that are actually in poor taste” (ibid., Part IV, C, 3, p. 125).
3. This providential meeting between the Word of God and
human cultures is already contained in the very essence of Revelation and reflects the
“logic” of the Incarnation. As the Council stresses in the
Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum:
“The words of God, expressed in the words of men, are in every way like
human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father,
when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness,
became like men” (n. 13).
3. This general principle finds a particular application in the
mass media. It is a question of aiding the shift, or more precisely, the
transposition from one form of language to another:
from the written word, largely dormant in the hearts of
believers and in the memory of a great number of people,
to the vi- sual communication of cinematic “fiction”, apparently more superficial, but in some respects even more powerful
and gripping than other languages.
3. In this regard, the efforts repeatedly made down to the
present day, which include your own professional work, are worthy
of attention because in many cases they have attained a remarkable artistic level.
I am therefore pleased to express my heartfelt appreciation of this
renewed cinematographic interest in both the Old and New
Testaments, especially since, despite its various, inevitably
partial cinematic interpretations, your intention is to present the
Bible in its integrity. It helps to keep alive in people that “hunger” and “thirst” for the Word of God which the prophet Amos said continues to grow on the
earth (cf. Am 8:11).
3. Mindful of the Apostle’s words,
“only that in every way ... Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice ... and I shall
rejoice” (Phil 1:18-19),
I hope that your service of promoting an ever greater
dissemination of the biblical message will continue with renewed commitment, with the intention of producing
works which can combine the artistic aspect with profound
religious inspiration, and which can arouse in the
audience not only aesthetic admiration but also interior participation and spiritual
growth.
3. Therefore, as I entrust you and all
your activities to the heavenly protection of Mary, Mother of
the Incarnate Word,
I assure you of a constant
remembrance in my prayer and cordially
bless you all.
Copyright 1998 © Libreria
Editrice Vaticana
ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE MEMBERSOF THE PONTIFICAL
BIBLICAL COMMISSIONTuesday, 29 April 2003
I greet you with great joy at this meeting that is taking place on
the occasion of your annual working session in Rome, at
which you methodically develop the research that each one of you has done. I thank Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger who has interpreted your common sentiments.
1. Two things make this meeting particularly special:
the centenary of your Commission and the theme on which you have been
working in recent years. The Pontifical Biblical Commission
serves the cause of the Word of God in accordance with the objectives
established for it by my Predecessors, Leo XIII and Paul VI.
It has kept pace with the times, sharing the hardships and anxieties, concerned
with identifying in the message of Revelation the response that God
provides to the serious problems that trouble humanity down the ages.
2. One of these problems is the subject of your current research.
You have summed it up in the title "The Bible and morality".
A somewhat paradoxical situation is plain for all to see:
contemporary people, disappointed by so many unsatisfactory answers to the fundamental questions of life, seem to be opening themselves
to the voice that comes from Transcendence and is expressed in the
biblical message. However, at the same time, they are growing more and more intolerant of
requests for behavior that corresponds with the values the Church has always
presented as based on the Gospel.
2. So we are faced with the most varied attempts
to separate biblical Revelation from the more binding proposals of life.
In this situation, listening carefully to the Word of
God can provide answers that are fully expressed in
Christ's teaching.
2. Dear professors and scholars, I want to encourage you in your work which, I
assure you, is particularly beneficial
to the Church.
I assure you of my prayers that your work may yield
abundant fruit, and I accompany you with
an Apostolic Blessing.
ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY
ASSEMBLYOF THE PONTIFICAL
BIBLICAL COMMISSIONTuesday, 20 April 2004
I am pleased to receive you once again on the occasion of your annual
Plenary Assembly. I would like to address a special greeting to the
President, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whom I thank for his interesting presentation of your
work.
2. You are meeting once again to examine a very
important subject: the connection between the
Bible and morality. This topic concerns not only believers but, in a
certain sense, every person of good will.
Indeed, God speaks through the Bible, revealing himself and pointing out a
solid basis and sure orientation for human
behavior.
2. Knowing God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;
recognizing his infinite goodness;
knowing gratefully and sincerely that "every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of lights" (Jas 1: 17);
discovering in the gifts that God has given us the tasks he has
entrusted to us; and acting with a full awareness
of our responsibility to him: these are some of the
fundamental expressions of biblical morality.
3. The Bible presents to us the inexhaustible treasures of God's revelation and of
his love for humanity. The task of your joint
commitment is to facilitate the Christian people's
access to these treasures. As I wish you a fruitful continuation of your
studies, I invoke upon you and your work the light of
the Holy Spirit, and I impart my affectionate Blessing to
you all.