Rome, Italy, Oct 6, 2017 / 12:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a joint declaration on the need to protect youth on the internet, leaders and experts from various fields stressed the need Friday to raise awareness of digital dangers and to collaborate on child protection.
“Every child’s life is unique, meaningful and precious and every child has a right to dignity and safety,” an Oct. 6 joint declaration from participants in a Rome conference on promoting online safety for children read.
However, “today, global society is failing its children.” Instead of being protected, “millions of children are being abused and exploited in tragic and unspeakable ways, and on an unprecedented scale all over the world,” the declaration lamented.
Titled “Pope Francis – A society can be judged by the way it treats its children,” the declaration was drafted by the participants in the conference and presented to Pope Francis during their audience with him Oct. 6.
The conference, held Oct. 3-6 and dedicated to the theme “Child Dignity in the Digital World,” was the first of its kind on a global scale, drawing social scientists, civic leaders, religious leaders, and representatives from major tech companies.
It was organized by the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Center for Child Protection in collaboration with the UK-based global alliance WePROTECT and the organization “Telefono Azzurro,” and addressed concerns surrounding abuse prevention, pornography, the responsibility of internet providers and the media, and ethical governance.
The declaration included 13 action points for the future directed at different sectors of society, including technology companies, law enforcement, governments, and religious leaders.
Key areas highlighted for protecting minors in the future were the fields of education and building awareness of the internet and the risks involved. Participants also advocated for more stringent laws and accountability for online crimes, training of medical and educational personnel in how to look for signs of abuse, and swifter reporting of suspected instances of abuse.
They also asked that major tech companies invest in developing new technologies aimed at protection and identification of online victims, as well as broader efforts to rescue victims and educate youth on what behaviors could put them in harm’s way.
“Technology’s exponential advancement and integration into our everyday lives is not only changing what we do and how we do it, but who we are,” the declaration read.
And while many of these changes are positive, “we face the dark side of this new-found world, a world which is enabling a host of social ills that are harming the most vulnerable members of society.”
Numerous benefits have come from the internet, but alongside these have also grown content that is “increasingly extreme and dehumanizing is available literally at children’s fingertips.”
“The proliferation of social media means insidious acts, such as cyber-bullying, harassment and sextortion, are becoming commonplace,” the document read, noting that both the range and scope of online child sexual abuse and exploitation “is shocking.”
“Vast numbers of sexual abuse images of children and youth are available online and continue to grow unabated,” participants said, adding that the “detrimental impact of pornography on the malleable minds of young children” is yet another increasing and “significant online harm.”
“We embrace the vision of an internet accessible by all people. However, we believe the constitution of this vision must recognize the unwavering value of protecting all children,” the said. And while the challenges are “enormous,” the response “must not be gloom and dismay.”
Instead, “we must work together to seek positive, empowering solutions for all. We must ensure that all children have safe access to the internet to enhance their education, communications and connections.”
Technology companies and governments have shown great leadership in this fight, they said, stressing that representatives of this field “must continue to innovate to better protect children.”
Families, neighborhoods and various communities around the world must also be awakened to the issue and the reality of the impact of the internet on children, including the risks.
Emphasizing the need for collaboration, participants stressed that online abuse and exploitation “is a problem that cannot be solved by one nation or one company or one faith acting alone, it is a global problem that requires global solutions.”
“It requires that we build awareness, and that we mobilize action from every government, every faith, every company and every institution.”
The declaration concluded saying that “the world faces unprecedented challenges if it is to preserve the rights and dignity of children and protect them from abuse and exploitation.”
These challenges “require new thinking and approaches, heightened global awareness and inspired leadership,” it read, and issued a global appeal for everyone “to stand up for the protection of the dignity of children.”
In an Oct. 6 news briefing with journalists after the audience with Pope Francis closing the conference, Fr. Hans Zollner SJ, president of the CCP, said the conference was “very intense and very successful.”
“There was a unique sense of unity” among participants across the board, he said, explaining that he “felt absolutely enthused about the way people were interacting, networking and comping up with interactive proposals.”
Also present at the news briefing was Baroness Sheila Hollins, a professor and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
In her comments, she said that when historians look back at the digital age, they will most likely say it was the age that “changed the world in one generation,” and we’ll be judged on “did we do enough?”
She spoke of the need to engage at various levels in order to address the problem, particularly with youth themselves, who are the “digital natives” most familiar with new forms of technology and therefore are the best interlocutors.
Another suggestion that came out of working groups was a possible encyclical on “on childhood and the social environment,” given the rapid changes society is undergoing.
Hollins also noted a proposal made by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, who during a keynote speech suggested an in-depth study be made on childhood from an anthropological, philosophical, and theological perspective, keeping in mind the different cultural perceptions of childhood, and that while some things are forbidden in some cultures, they might be acceptable in others.
Dr. Ernie Allen, Chair of the International Advisory Board for WePROTECT, said that the organization intends to get the topic of the digital world and safety concerns on the table at relevant events in the coming years, such as the 2018 Synod of Bishops on youth, the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Dublin, and the 2019 World Youth Day in Panama.
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Time for bishops to respond to Kasper.
They can’t even respond to infanticide…..
Failing to teach the truth of the faith leads souls to hell. Kasper is a modernist, liberal heterdox and needs to just go away.
Now it is “behind the Pope’s back” to teach the basic truths of the faith? I read Mueller’s whole “Manifesto”: it is nothing more than basic Catholicism. If such a document brings condemnation from cardinals, we really are in de facto schism already.
Kasper’s replies shows an intellectual bankruptcy regarding the Catholic Church and the absurdity of a ‘Catholic truth’ that is only a ‘half truth’ because the world may come to believe in one God and a bartered peace is better than none. It has not stopped Muslim bloodshed no matter how many times prelates of Christianity have defined down the triune God or even denied Him for the sake of peace.
A Kasper church does the world no favor in denying the truths of the Catholic Church in believing that will bring a theological and secular piece to the world.
How does Kasper reconcile John 8:32…”and the truth shall set you free”???
“Half the truth is not the Catholic truth!” pontificates Cardinal Kasper who, in his now predictable mindset, seems to imply that the whole Catholic truth is, what, less incarnational than it is big-tent syncretic (“catholic” small c)?
Of other religions, Kasper pronounces, “…are not these similarities [among religions] today fundamental to peace in the world and in society?”
What? Of course, ALL such platitudes are true—but, is it now inadmissible for Cardinal Muller to simply present the real Catholic Faith—except by immediately overlaying and obscuring the Catechism picture with distinctly other religions? Except by decoying the reader away from the question of personal salvation?
Kasper even equates Muller with Luther! Hah! The shoe is on the other foot…With Cardinal Muller and the Second Vatican Council and the entire Apostolic Succession—might the whole Catholic truth be BOTH in harmony with important parts of other religions AND decisively more?
“…The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light…Christ the Lord…by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, FULLY REVEALS MAN TO HIMSELF [caps added] and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 22).
Allowing for and even fostering prudential actions toward “peace in the world,” yes with those of other religions, might it be that the very-most “fundamental” thing in any human flourishing (as well as in eternal salvation!) is still the whole truth about the human person?
Ironically, “half the truth (really) is not the Catholic truth!”
Kasper, A man who himself is known for rejecting perennial Church doctrine on marriage, communion, the Real Presence, and the Divinity of Christ, and has dedicated his life to undermining these unchangeable truths, has the gall to accuse Cardinal Muller of causing divisions.
We need to pray for the well-being and good health of Cardinals, bishops and their tribe.
Yaawn. Next.
“Better a millstone…”
Kardinal Kasper long admired by the Pontiff who glowingly described during the Synod on the Family that the Cardinal’s proposal D&R be allowed Holy Communion was piously made “on his knees”. Member of the St Galen Group instrumental for his elevation to the papacy that Group [inclusive of Pope Francis in rigging the election] have no issue whatsoever now that Laity are freely receiving Holy Communion even without the journey of hand holding clergy discernment. As evidenced in the Malta Bishops exchange entered in the Acta Apostolicae followed by that Conference’s total submission to the apparent intent of Francis that D&R Laity simply follow their conscience. The whole pietistic agonizing over D&R in Amoris was a ruse. Now there is nothing to be bothered with and smiles. The fear is how much more coincidence is there between the two. They seem less surreptitiously than before to be two Peas in a Pod.
This manifesto is not stating anything new. Cardinal Mueller is simply restating succinctly what the Church has always taught, and what the CCC makes very approachable and understandable for our times…therefore it rings with clarity and truth. Thank God for faithful shepherds. Thank you Cardinal Mueller.
It is those apostates, who profess to be Catholic, while denying that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, thus denying Genesis, that have caused confusion and chaos in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, Church, making it appear as if we can transform Christ, The Word Of God Made Flesh.
That should read, It is those apostates, who profess to be Catholic, while denying that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, thus denying Genesis, that have caused confusion and chaos in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, making it appear as if we can transform Christ, The Word Of God Made Flesh.