Overview

• In a speech to MINDS International executives at the Vatican, he urged agencies including AP, Reuters and AFP to uphold free, rigorous, objective reporting.
• He condemned click-bait tactics, telling editors to “never sell out your authority” and to unite financial sustainability with accurate, balanced information.
• He pressed for the release of jailed reporters, said journalism must never be treated as a crime, and honored colleagues killed while covering wars such as in Gaza and Ukraine.
• He cautioned about artificial intelligence, calling for vigilance so machines do not replace humans, clarity over who directs algorithms, and action against “junk” information.
• Citing Hannah Arendt, he warned that societies falter when fact and fiction blur, describing a double crisis of newsroom economics alongside audiences struggling to discern truth.