Nigeria: Bishop Badejo echoes Pope Leo’s call for responsible engagement with digital media

As the International Communication Conference at Rome’s Pontifical Urbaniana University on “Preserving human voices and faces” got underway on Thursday, 21 May, Nigeria’s Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of the Diocese of Oyo has reiterated Pope Leo XIV’s message for communication that does not alienate.

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Reflecting on Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications, Bishop Badejo said the theme, “Preserving Human Voices and Faces”, is a timely admonition that the world needs to hear and which “demonstrates the Pope’s concern that we should pay attention to the dwindling role of the human face and voice in contemporary social communication relationships.”

Communication must promote communion

“Authentic communication must promote communion with God and with our fellow men and women. Bad communication does the exact opposite, causing division, stress and conflict,” said the Nigerian prelate, who is also an expert on communication and media.

Communication, Bishop Badejo said, must never exclude or excommunicate fellow human beings, even when conflicts arise. In other words, communication must never alienate others.

The message of World Communication Day is meant to “help us to balance Faith, Humanity and Digital Presence in our day-to-day relationships,” he emphasised.

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Avoid demonising all digital media

Bishop Badejo further warned against excessive dependence on digital technologies and what he termed the “artificialisation of communication.” Excessive dependence on technology, he said, can harm family, friendships, and communal relationships.

Nonetheless, the Bishop cautioned against the extreme of demonising digital media or Artificial Intelligence (AI). He instead called for “responsible engagement and media literacy.”

“Only by preserving human voices and faces in our society can we ensure the re-humanisation of our world, which in many ways is deeply dehumanised,” Bishop Badejo said.