Catholic Communicators of the Diocese of Buea have been exalted to foster truth, love, unity, and peace as they carry out their roles with the mission of fostering evangelization. This call was made on Sunday, December 22nd, 2024, by Bishop Michael Bibi, Bishop of Buea, during a Eucharistic celebration marking the 58th World Day of Social Communication in the Diocese held under the theme “Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart towards a fully human communication”.
58th World Day of Social Communication
Following the message of the Holy Father Pope Francis, who urged all to integrate technology with wisdom and spirituality and highlighted the need for ethical and responsible engagement online, the Local Ordinary Bishop Michael Bibi exalted communicators to propagate the truth. He noted that communication must foster truth, peace, and love and should be carried out in conformity with the teachings of the church.
Bishop Bibi Urges communicators to be truthful
True communication should be complete and free and should take into consideration social solidarity and the moral rights of individuals. He further urged communicators to shun the naive, unverified syndrome of forwarding messages, which are often not true and are defamatory to others.
Speaking at the conference which took place after the celebration of mass, Dr. Dominic Forcha, specialist in Mass Communication, and guest speaker at the event, told participants that artificial intelligence can be an opportunity and a threat depending on how it is used. As a positive, it can be used for editing news articles, It is cost-effective and always available. However, a downside of AI is that it lacks human intelligence and encourages human laziness” the speaker pointed.
Dr. Dominic Forcha invites communicators to use AI positively
He called on communicators to use AI positively by seeing it as a support tool for communicating more meaningfully. Communicators were challenged not to lose sight of empathy or emotions and were reminded that AI can never be a replacement for human interaction and communication. He called on them to be socially responsible and to be guided by the ethics of the profession.
At the close of the celebration, Bishop Bibi encouraged communicators to remain firm, and consistent in their work and told them that he will stand by them always in the propagation of the Gospel message. The celebration took place at St Charles Lwanga Parish in Molyko-Buea bringing together members of the Directorate of communication and its different arms, parish reporters, and social communicators.
