Pope Leo XIV: Blessing to Journalists

The newly elected Pope Leo XIV blessed journalists at an audience on Monday and stressed their crucial role in pursuing human peace and prosperity. The Pope received a standing ovation from the audience of journalists as he entered the Vatican auditorium. This was his first meeting with the public, highlighting the importance he places on journalism. 

Mercedes Schlapp and Dr Chad Pecknold, an Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at The Catholic University of America, had a conversation on America UnCanceled where they discussed the blessing of journalists by the new Pope. The official Papal blessing came as a shock to many journalists in the audience, as the late Pope Francis avoided the blessing seemingly to accommodate other faiths or the unbelieving. 

“He blessed the journalists in Rome, gave them a Christian blessing, remember Francis avoided giving a Christian blessing lest he offend the ‘pagan journalists.’ But this Pope [Leo XIV] gave a proper Christian blessing to the journalists and I think he is right to say, these journalists actually are important for human flourishing, they are important for human peace and they need to tell the truth.”, says Dr Pecknold.

Although journalists may not agree with the Doctrines of the Church and Pope Leo XIV, he still made the effort to bless the journalists and said that what they are doing is also important and meaningful. The important role journalists have comes with the responsibility of fair and honest reporting:

“Even before he was Pope, as Cardinal Prevost, he was always interested in the problem of spectacle in media. What Donald Trump calls ‘fake news.’ The kind of thing that blows up but doesn’t really have any basis in reality. I think, as Pope Leo XIV, he's going to attack the idea of fake news. And ask journalists to pay attention to what's real.”, says Dr Pecknold.