An IT centre in Ibadan, Nigeria, leading the way in technology and training, presented at the Vatican Congress on the Catholic Press.
As we heard in our previous communications update the Pontifical Council for Social Communications invited journalists and communications experts from 85 countries to the Vatican for a congress on the Catholic press. from October 4th – 7th. During a meeting with the participants Pope Benedict noted that while the new media can help spread information, often it is focused on attention-grabbing images and makes little or no attempt to help people understand what is really happening. The task of a journalist, the Pope said, is to channel the flow of information in a way that helps people make sense of it and the job of a Catholic journalist is to help readers evaluate events in the light of church teaching. At this congress the Council actually tried to fill the speaker’s slots mostly with people who work in the media. Many picked up the theme of the gathering which was the media and the new technologies. Two of the speakers were from Africa, Fr. Bernadin Mfumbusa who teaches communications in Tanzania and Fr. Michael Akpoghiran from Nigeria. Fr. Mike heads a centre that is providing top IT service in West Africa. He spoke to the gathering of journalists and then later to Africa Service about the centre.
