ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER 
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF LUX VIDE COMPANY

 Thursday, 25 November 1999

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. I am pleased to have this meeting which allows me to greet you, the representatives of Lux Vide and the co-producers of the film Jesus, which in the coming weeks will be broadcast on television channels in many countries.

I greet Dr Ettore Bernabei, President of Lux Vide, and thank him for his address to me on your behalf as well. I extend my greetings to each of you here and congratulate you on the dedication to evangelization which marks your work. Through you I would like to extend my gratitude to those who in various ways have collaborated and are collaborating in the production of television films on religious and, particularly, biblical themes.

My fondest hope is that such films will help make the revealed message better known to our contemporaries, offering them a satisfying answer to the questions and doubts they bear in their hearts.

2. I also trust that your film productions will be an effective aid in the indispensable dialogue that is developing between culture and faith in our time. In the world of cinema and television, where history, art and expressive language converge, your work as professionals and believers is proving particularly useful and necessary.

By its very nature, culture is communication:  of individuals with one another and of people with the environment in which they live. Enlightened by faith, culture is able to reflect the individual's dialogue with God in Christ. Faith and culture are thus called to meet and interact precisely in the field of communications. Especially in our time, marked by the development of the mass media, culture is conditioned and, in many respects, moulded by these new possibilities of communication. It is important to keep this in mind.

I ardently hope that your work will be a vehicle of evangelization and help our contemporaries to meet Christ, true God and true man. With this wish, I entrust all your broadcast projects to Mary, Star of Evangelization, as I cordially bless you all.