IP: Pope Says Internet 'Wonderful' but Needs Regulating

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 10:52:43 -0500
> To: farber () central cis upenn edu (David Farber)
> From: Jean Armour Polly <mom () netmom com>
> Subject: Pope Says Internet 'Wonderful' but Needs Regulating
>
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20020122/wr/pope_internet_dc_1.html
> Tuesday January 22 10:36 AM ET
> Pope Says Internet 'Wonderful' but Needs Regulating
>
> By Crispian Balmer
>
> VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Internet caters to the best and worst of 
> human nature and needs regulation to stop depravity flooding cyberspace, 
> Pope John Paul said Tuesday.
>
> The 81-year old Pontiff, who last year sent his first message over the 
> Internet, praised it as a ``wonderful instrument'' that should be used to 
> spread the word of God and encourage global peace.
>
> However, he warned that while it offered access to immense knowledge, the 
> Internet did not necessarily provide wisdom and could easily be perverted 
> to demean human dignity.
>
> ``Despite its enormous potential for good, some of the degrading and 
> damaging ways the Internet can be used are already obvious to all,'' the 
> Pope said in a message prepared for World Communications Day.
>
> ``Public authorities surely have a responsibility to guarantee that this 
> marvelous instrument serves the common good and does not become a source 
> of harm,'' he added.
> Although the Pope does not have an e-mail address, the Vatican has an 
> active Web site (www.vatican.va) and the Church is reportedly searching 
> for a patron saint of Internet users.
> <snip>
> ``The Internet offers extensive knowledge, but it does not teach values 
> and when values are disregarded, our very humanity is demeaned,'' he said, 
> adding that the system focused people's attention on an ``almost unending 
> flood of information.''
> ``Yet human beings have a vital need for time and inner quiet to ponder 
> and examine life and its mysteries,'' he said. ''Understanding and wisdom 
> are the fruit of a contemplative eye upon the world, and do not come from 
> a mere accumulation of facts, no matter how interesting.''
> <snip>

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