Synod and the Dicastery for Communication. What's happening?

Now, another danger of further "inflation" of this poorly managed juggernaut (see the elephantine structure below)?

Towards a Dicastery for the Internet and AI?

In the Report of Study Group 3 ("Mission in the Digital Environment") of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops—now a sort of parallel magisterium—published on March 4, page 23 (of 30) states:

"1. Creation of an office, department, or commission responsible for accompanying the mission in the digital environment: a Pontifical Commission for Digital Culture and New Technologies, for example, could monitor emerging theological, pastoral, and canonical issues; prepare documents, guidelines, and handbooks; define formation strategies for different levels (bishops, priests, religious, laity); and support Episcopal Conferences in integrating the digital mission into their pastoral plans. It could also convene working groups to study the necessary canonical adjustments related to the oversight of the digital mission and work synodally with all Vatican Dicasteries, Commissions, and Offices to share best practices and accompany them in living their mission in the digital culture."

What is the true meaning of the proposal?

It is a paragraph contained in the "Proposals" of Group 3, addressed specifically to the Holy See, to the Pope. In short: the members of this Group propose to Leo XIV the creation of a pontifical commission to provide advice on digital challenges (the Internet) and new technologies (obviously Artificial Intelligence). The proposed activities are divided into six points:

1. Monitor emerging theological, pastoral, and canonical issues;
2. Prepare documents, guidelines, and handbooks;
3. Define formation strategies for different levels (bishops, priests, religious, laity);
4. Support Episcopal Conferences in integrating the digital mission;
5. Convene working groups for canonical adaptations;
6. Work synodally with all Dicasteries to share best practices.

These projects and language, which have been circulating cyclically in the Vatican for well over a decade, often resurface in connection with media issues and the much-vaunted "communications" that should be entrusted to experts and consultants. It's clear that now, after the pontificates of Ratzinger and Bergoglio, efforts are being made to involve Pope Leo as well. The Pontiff's signature is being sought to create an entity that is useless and dangerous to the fragile resources of the Holy See, which already spends millions of euros on "communications" without effective results.

This is also because these experts believe that the Church and the Pontiff are something like a brand that must be promoted to sell. Their advice and expertise, they believe, increase evangelization and extend the mission. Thinking like this is a risky vision of the Church that must be eradicated.

One wonders why, after more than ten years of the Dicastery for Communication, we're back to the beginning, dusting off terms that experience has shown to be dusty and manipulated, tired and empty. As is evident from the text of the proposal, these mechanisms never address "content" (the true substance of all communication), exactly as happened with the 2015 "Vatican media reform," which Pope Francis himself harshly criticized during his visit to Vatican News and L'Osservatore Romano on May 24, 2021. Already then, the Pope spoke of "a mountain giving birth to a mouse" and of the danger of functionalism, a true gangrene affecting various Holy See entities. (Speech).

These are structures that arise without a real "why" and end up appearing only as small power centers dependent (financially) on the Apostolic See and the People of God. The proposal in question is a typical example of the style with which the General Secretariat of the Synod, led by Cardinal Mario Grech, has been running for years. Finding the right and timely mix of phrases, biblical quotations, and bombastic language to create bureaucracies for which content matters not so much as their own survival. We can only hope—for the sake of the Church—that the upcoming reports of the other study groups do not propose further pontifical commissions.

Some in the Vatican may have already asked: shouldn't these tasks already be carried out by the Dicastery for Communication? In 2015, it was stated that these tasks were the goals of the new Dicastery (Motu Proprio of June 27, 2015).

It was enough then, and it is enough today, to read the organizational chart of this Dicastery to understand that.

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