(Vatican Radio) One out of three young people in Europe has been the victim of cyber bullying – an alarming and relatively recent phenomenon that has families, schools, political leaders and the Church concerned. According to a 2013 European internet rights observatory study, 20,000 kids on the old Continent have suffered some form of harassment …
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(Vatican Radio) The joy of the Church is to be a mother, to go out and seek the lost sheep. That was the message of Pope Francis during Tuesday’s morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope said that the Church does not need to have “a perfect organizational chart” if that would make…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Monday “nuclear weapons are a global problem affecting all nations and impacting future generations and the planet that is our home.” His words were read out at the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons which was taking place in Vienna on December 8-9. “Nuclear deterrence and the…
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(Vatican Radio) One out of three young people in Europe has been the victim of cyber bullying – an alarming and relatively recent phenomenon that has families, schools, political leaders and the Church concerned. According to a 2013 European internet rights observatory study, 20,000 kids on the old Continent have suffered some form of harassment or abuse online.
The phenomenon was examined in a press conference Tuesday at the Vatican Press Hall.
Listen to this report by Tracey McClure:
Entitled “Stop threats on the internet,” the conference was organized by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Bureau International Catholique de L’Enfance, a France-based international Catholic network of organisations engaged in the promotion and protection of children’s rights. The network is promoting the online petition, “Stop threats on the Internet” which has collected more than ten thousand signatures.
President of the Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Peter Turkson, described cyberbullying and abuse of the internet as a “very worrying” trend.
In an interview with Vatican Radio, the Council’s Undersecretary, Flaminia Giovanelli describes cyberbullying as acts of “intimidation” – sometimes “for fun” which can include “sexual provocation” and cause “moral injury.”
According to the EU Commission, “Cyberbullying is repeated verbal or psychological harassment carried out by an individual or group against others. It can take many forms: mockery, insults, threats, rumors, gossip… disagreeable comments or slander. Interactive online services (e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging) and mobile phones have given bullies new opportunities and ways in which they can abuse their victims.”
Giovanelli cites studies conducted by the London School of Economics’ EU Kids Online which show that 5% of young people between 5-16 years of age have declared they have been victims of online bullying. “It is quite a serious problem,” she stresses, which affects children at increasingly younger ages. “This is very worrying.”
Cyberbullying has led to dozens of child and teenage suicides and has a long-lasting impact on victims who survive. Surveys show that more than half of European children who’ve been bullied say they became depressed as a result; more than a third say they’ve harmed themselves or thought about suicide.
Asked how the Church can respond to cyberbullying, Giovanelli says “I think that the main task of the Church which is also the main task of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is to inform, and to know what is happening, and to know that there are juridical instruments [that can be applied].” But “the fundamental aim,” of the Church, Giovanelli stresses, is “formation” – not just at the level of the individual and through schools but also “the education and formation of the family as a whole.”
Giovanelli describes use of the internet today as a “paradox.” Today, she says, social networks and the internet “can be very useful for the family,” keeping families connected in an increasingly globalized world where sons and daughters and other relatives may live far from home. “The social network is quite a [positive] way to maintain the familial relationships.”
On the flip side, she warns, the internet can also keep people at a distance. “When the parents are sick or whatever, or at the extreme times of their life, [they] can remain alone.”
“I think that we have the task to help people understand that [social media and the internet] are only [a] means [of communication] and are tools. But the human relationship needs to be maintained in another way,” Giovanelli adds.
The media can also play a positive role in raising awareness about the need to combat online bullying and harassament, Giovanelli says, “if they work for the good.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The joy of the Church is to be a mother, to go out and seek the lost sheep. That was the message of Pope Francis during Tuesday’s morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope said that the Church does not need to have “a perfect organizational chart” if that would make her sorrowful and closed on herself, if that would make her “not a mother.” He then invited his listeners to be “joyful Christians,” with the “consolation of the tenderness of Jesus.”
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
“Open the doors to the consolation of the Lord.” In this passage, which served as the starting point for the Pope’s homily, Isaiah is speaking about the end of the tribulation of Israel after the Babylonian exile. “The people,” Pope Francis said, “have need of consolation. The very presence of the Lord consoles [them].” It is one consolation that is with them even in tribulation. And yet, he warned, “we usually flee from consolation; we have no confidence; we are more comfortable in our stuff, we are more comfortable even in our failures, in our sins.” This, he said, “is our country.” On the other hand, the Pope continued, “when the Spirit comes, consolation comes as well, and bears us to another state that we cannot control: this is precisely abandonment in the consolation of the Lord.”
Pope Francis emphasized that “the greatest consolation is that of mercy and forgiveness.” He then turned his thoughts to Ezekiel, chapter 16, when, after so many sins of the people, our Lord says, “I will never abandon you; I will give you more; this will be my revenge: consolation and pardon.” This, the Pope said, is our God.” For this reason, he said, “it is good to repeat: allow yourselves to be consoled by the Lord; He alone can console us.” And we should do so even if “we are used to ‘renting’ small consolations of our own making,” but that simply “doesn’t work.”
The Holy Father then spoke about the parable of the lost sheep, from the day’s Gospel:
“I ask myself, what is the consolation of the Church? Just as an individual is consoled when he feels the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord, the Church rejoices and is happy when she goes out of herself. In the Gospel, the pastor who goes out goes to seek the lost sheep – he could keep accounts like a good businessman. [He could say]: ‘Ninety-nine sheep, if I lose one, it’s no problem; the balance sheet – gains and losses. But it’s fine, we can get by.’ No, he has the heart of a shepherd, he goes out and searches for [the lost sheep] until he finds it, and then he rejoices, he is joyful.
“The joy of going out to seek the brothers and sisters who are far off: This is the joy of the Church. Here the Church becomes a mother, becomes fruitful”:
“When the Church does not do this, then the Church stops herself, is closed in on herself, even if she is well organized, has a perfect organizational chart, everything’s fine, everything’s tidy – but she lacks joy, she lacks peace, and so she becomes a disheartened Church, anxious, sad, a Church that seems more like a spinster than a mother, and this Church doesn’t work, it is a Church in a museum. The joy of the Church is to give birth; the joy of the Church is to go out of herself to give life; the joy of the Church is to go out to seek the sheep that are lost; the joy of the Church is precisely the tenderness of the shepherd, the tenderness of the mother.”
The end of the passage from Isaiah, he explained, again takes up this image: “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs.” This, the Pope said, “is the joy of the Church, to go out of herself and to become fruitful.”
“May the Lord give us the grace of working, of being joyful Christians in the fruitfulness of Mother Church, and keep us from falling into the attitude of these sad Christians, impatient, disheartened, anxious, that have all the perfection in the Church, but do not have ‘children.’ May the Lord console us with the consolation of a Mother Church that goes out of herself and consoles us with the consolation of the tenderness of Jesus and His mercy in the forgiveness of our sins.”
(from Vatican Radio)…