You Won’t Believe What Pope Leo Just Told Journalists — and Why He’s Right
In an age of clickbait and “fake news,” the first American pope is calling the press back to its vocation: telling the truth with courage and clarity.
Alright, confession: I just committed the very sin Pope Leo XIV urged the media to avoid — I used a clickbait headline.
Forgive me, Holy Father!
In a dialogue with journalists last week, the first American pope derided sensationalism and said the “the ancient art of lying” has no place in a media that aspires to be heralds of the truth.
Instead, he called journalists to a higher standard of integrity and service.
A Pope Who Defends the Press
Despite a pontificate barely five months old, Pope Leo has swiftly emerged as a stalwart defender of press freedom.
In his very first address to the media after his election, the Chicago-born pope thanked journalists for their “service to the truth” and urged them to reject a “war of words” that sows division.
He appealed for the release of reporters jailed simply for doing their jobs, affirming the “precious gift of free speech and the press.”
Leo XIV has repeatedly stood up for journalists’ rights. “Doing the work of a journalist can never be considered a crime,” he insists, reiterating that journalism is a pillar of society that must be protected.
In an age of social media algorithms and profit-driven punditry, he’s echoed Pope Francis’ warning against the degradation of communication through clickbait and disinformation.
Truth in an Era of Lies — Echoes of Arendt and Benedict
Pope Leo’s concern unfolds in what he calls a “quicksand of approximation and post-truth.”
He reminded news leaders that when the line between truth and falsehood is blurred, democracy itself is in peril.
Quoting philosopher Hannah Arendt, Leo warned that “the ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.”
This sobering quote, used by Leo in his dialogue with journalists, harkens back to Pope Benedict XVI’s 2005 caution about a “dictatorship of relativism” — a culture that recognizes no truths beyond individual ego and desire.
Leo’s alarm over an “age of confusion” aligns with Benedict’s fear: if everything becomes relative, the ground is fertile for lies to proliferate and for cynicism to rule.
Historical parallels drive the point home.
During Donald Trump’s two terms as U.S. president, we’ve witnessed unprecedented attacks on the press, with the media derided as “fake news” and even “enemies of the people.”
That phrase, chillingly, was once used by the likes of Stalin to demonize truth-tellers.
Pope Leo is well aware of these echoes of totalitarianism in our times.
It’s why he has been, in his short pontificate, the press’s most ardent guardian — a pope unafraid to stand up for journalists and to call them, and indeed all of us, to the vocation of truth.
He urges today’s media not to “sell out [their] authority” for clicks, but rather to be courageous bulwarks of civility against lies.
In a world drowning in noise, Pope Leo XIV sees journalists as peacemakers and truth-bearers, tasked with nothing less than upholding reality itself amidst an era of relativism and propaganda.
It’s a mission as noble as it is urgent — and one that I wholeheartedly champion, without the need for any more clickbait.
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Thank you for reading. I’ll see you on the road.
He's right, this is what is needed.
Viva Papa Leon