Catholic media professionals
in Africa have pledged col-
laboration with the media
reform of Pope Francis and
say they look forward to new media
services from Vatican.
“We give special recognition and
appreciation to our Holy Father, Pope
Francis, for the great interest he has
shown to the communication apos-
tolate of the Church. The reforms that
he initiated in the Vatican Media are
yielding positive fruit. We pledge to
collaborate with the Holy Father and
the Prefect of the Dicastery, Doctor
Paolo Ruffini, to ensure that commu-
nication is efficiently integrated into
the life and mission of the Church,”
read the final communiqué released
and signed on behalf of participants,
by the SIGNIS Africa President and
Secretary, Prof. Fr. Walter Ihejirika
and Fr. Dieudonne Kofi Davor, respec-
tively.
Cardinal Souraphiel Berhaneyesus
officially opened the gathering
More than one hundred Catholic
communicators from across Africa
met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from
the 3 to 7 September for the SIGNIS
Africa Assembly. Addis Ababa’s Met-
ropolitan Archbishop, Cardinal Sou-
raphiel Berhaneyesus together with
SIGNIS World President, Helen Os-
man, graced the continental event.
Also present were officials from the
Holy See’s Dicastery for Communica-
tion and the Dicastery for Promoting
Integral Human Development. Four
African Bishops also participated in
the meeting together with guests from
the Symposium of Episcopal Confer-
ences of Africa and Madagascar (SE-
CAM), Caritas Africa and CAMECO.
SIGNIS is the world Catholic asso-
ciation for communications whose
members are national associations
grouped by regions of the world.
SIGNIS has a presence in more than
100 countries.
The digital age has come with oppor-
tunities and challenges
The theme of the assembly was, “The
African Youth in the Digital World;
Promoting Creativity for Integral De-
velopment.” It was a discussion that
premises from the fact that the digital
age has come with opportunities and
challenges and the youth need to be
guided in their interaction with the
ever-changing media environment.
SIGNIS Africa says that the youth
on the continent cannot be expect-
ed to remain bystanders in the face
of new digital technologies. Africa’s
young people should be helped to
become protagonists and artisans of
their destinies, the meeting observed.
Protecting young people from on-
line criminality and religious radical-
isation
According to the discussants, young
people are a vulnerable group that
needs protection from online crimi-
nality, child abuse and religious rad-
icalisation.
Some of the resolutions and actions
to be taken by the Catholic Commu-
nicators, on the continent, include
harnessing the creativity of young
people and promoting digital and
media literacy. The importance of Af-
rica telling her own stories was also
discussed at length.
Lastly, members in Addis Ababa re-
solved to improve the structure and
visibility of SIGNIS at local, national,
regional and continental levels.
