A GIORNALISTI AMERICANI Lunedì 15 aprile 1957 è accordata l'Udienza ad alcuni Giornalisti americani che hanno compiuto il volo inaugurale dell'aereo «DC 7 C» sulla « Rotta del Sole per l'Europa. Tra gli intervenuti, i Signori: Len Falkner (N. Y. World Telegram and Sun); Frederic C. Othaman (United Features Syndicate); Ri- chard Maher (San Francisco Chronicle); john M. yohnston (Chicago Daily News); H. D. Quigg (United Press); Horace Sutton (The Saturday Review); Dorothy Roe (Associated Press); Everett Kallgren (N. Y. Herald Tribune); Olga Curtis (International News Service); e numerosi altri Giornalisti e Funzionari; nonchè alcuni tecnici della organizzazione aeronautica.

GENTLEMEN of the Press and of the skies. An unexpected visit, but a very welcome one. It is interesting to observe

that the spirit of Columbus lives on; and men are still seeking to discover new paths to link the Old World with the New. But what have you to tell of the mad sea that curls his lips and shows his teeth, while the very winds forget ,their way? Your passage carries you above the dread and frightening vicissitudes of this earth, and under a cloudless expanse of heaven only the warm, bright sun, or glittering stars guide your way.

But your profession, gentlemen of the Press, holds you very close to this earth with its restless, often enough bewildered, blinded masses and the day-by-day uncertain promises and hopes and menaces. More than once We have had occasion to address the Press; but today We may be very brief. You understand the grave responsibility resting on you. Be conscious of it when you write. You have your ethical principles worthy of a noble art; yet you will agree there is an evil press abroad that scorns those norms. Bring the weight of your honourable loyalty and fearless example to thwart the harm it can do. Calumny and scandal, how quick-footed they are! A whisper, harmless perhaps though unwarranted, is blown up to a one-inch headline, and what havoc it can wreak in family life, in the lives of individuals and nations! A scoop is not worth the deep sense of shame that should come to one guilty of such conduct.

Yours is not an easy task, and precisely because the genuine service you can offer to Society is invaluable. One may well shudder at the flood of error and false moral standards let loose by the communication arts today. We pray that God may strengthen you in your resolute purpose to live up to your lofty vocation ; so that, always alert to your obligations to the thousands and millions of people who may be affected by what you write, you may give them at all times nothing but the truth, as far as your serious research can ascertain it. Our blessing and best wishes follow you.

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*Discorsi e Radiomessaggi di Sua Santità Pio XII, XIX,
Diciannovesimo anno di Pontificato, 2 marzo 1957 - 1° marzo 1958, p. 87 Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana