c. 1996 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY (RNS)-Pope John Paul II has called on the mass media to cease their”exploitation of women”in print, broadcast and cinema portrayals, and promote the rights and”dignity”of women by accurately depicting their lives.

The pope wrote in a message prepared for the Vatican’s 30th World Communications Day, on May 16, that women are wrongly depicted as sexual”objects”and often portrayed as a”masculine caricature”bent on scaling the corporate ladder. Meanwhile, he asserted, their roles as wives and mothers are”undervalued.””Sadly …,”the pontiff wrote,”we often see not the exaltation but the exploitation of women in the media.” John Paul stated that his message was aimed at journalists and the television and motion picture industries”where a new culture is being shaped.” Referring to a letter on women he issued last year, the pope wrote that”motherhood is often penalized rather than rewarded”and that the”advancement of women’s genuine emancipation is a matter of justice, which can no longer be overlooked.” More women should become employed in the broadcast, film and publishing industries to foster accurate and sensitive images of women on screen and the airwaves, the pope stated.

The promotion of women’s rights in social, political and economic life, he wrote,”is a dialogue which people in the communications media can, indeed have an obligation to, foster and support.”

MJP END HEILBRONNER