(TibetanReview.net, May13’25) – In his first address to members of the media at the Vatican, newly elected Pope Leo XIV has called for the release of imprisoned journalists. He expressed solidarity with journalists who were jailed “for seeking and reporting the truth” and said their suffering “challenges the conscience of nations and the international community”.
The Pope’s remarks came 10 days after Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières or RSF) released its annual survey, which found China to be the world’s top jailer of journalists.
The May 2 survey report said China’s aggressive suppression of independent media is increasingly emulated in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
Also, the Committee to Protect Journalists, New York, has said 361 journalists were in jail in 2024. It said China remains the world’s leading jailer of journalists; that as of Dec 1, 2024, it had documented 50 journalists imprisoned in China, marking an increase from 44 in 2023.
Press freedom must be defended, bbc.com May 12 cited the Pope as saying. The media must ensure that the “precious gift” of free speech is protected.
Pope Leo, who was chosen as the new leader of the Catholic Church on May 6, has also highlighted the role journalists can play in bringing attention to injustice and poverty in the world.
He has urged the media to focus on reporting the truth instead of taking part in partisan divisions, and not to give space to “fanaticism and hatred.”
Speaking in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall, he has said, “We do not need loud, forceful communication, … but rather communication that is capable of listening and of gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice.”
Speaking in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff, the 69-year-old Augustinian missionary, elected in a 24-hour conclave last week, called for journalists to use words for peace, to reject war and to give voice to the voiceless, noted the AP May 12.