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.