Journalists can help spread God’s message – pope

MANILA, Philippines - For Pope Francis, journalists are important communicators with a mission he is well aware of and their needs and problems at work are not lost on him.

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said the Pope believes that journalists can help spread the message of the Gospel.

“The Pope is very attentive to the needs of all the journalists traveling with him and he is aware of the problems they have in their work. We pray also for them and their work because he knows that the journalists — the communicators – are very important collaborators in spreading the good news,” Lombardi said in a press briefing at the Diamond Hotel in Manila on Saturday night.

He said the Pope prays for journalists because “they have a very important mission to spread the message, love, justice and peace.”

“In the service for mankind, the message of the Gospel can go far if he is helped by the good work of the communicators. In the sense he loves the work of communicators,” Lombardi said.

The Philippines had the third most number of journalists killed in 2013 and has continued to be among the countries where press freedom is imperiled, according to two international media watchdogs.

In its “Killing the Messenger” report, the London-based International News Safety Institute (INSI) said that 14 journalists were killed in the Philippines in 2013, next to Syria with 20 journalists killed and Iraq with 16.

The INSI reported that 134 journalists and media staff were killed in 29 countries in 2013, of which 69 happened in peacetime while the rest during armed conflicts in different parts of the world.

The international media group Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders) also said that the media situation in the Philippines remained “difficult” and the environment of freedom “has even worsened.”

According to the RSF’s “2014 World Press Freedom Index” the Philippines was ranked 149th among 180 countries included in the index.

The Philippines ranked 156th in 2010 after the Maguindanao massacre on Nov. 23, 2009 when 32 of the 58 people killed were journalists.

According to the RSF, the Philippines and Pakistan are among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis had also dispensed at least thrice with his prepared speeches in English and decided to speak extemporaneously in Spanish so he could better relay his message to the Filipino faithful during the “Meeting of the Families” at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last Friday. – With Paolo Romero