Pontifical Council for Social Communications

{{Short description|Defunct organization of the Vatican (1948–2016)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{more citations needed|date=September 2013}} {{Infobox organization | name = Pontifical Council for Social Communications | native_name = Pontificium Consilium de Communicationibus Socialibus | native_name_lang = la | named_after = | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | logo = | logo_size = | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | map = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = | map2 = | map2_size = | map2_alt = | map2_caption = | abbreviation = PCSC, PCCS | predecessor = | merged_into = Secretariat for Communication | successor = | established = {{start date and age|df=yes|1948|01|30}} | founder = Pope Pius XII | founding_location = Vatican City | dissolved = {{end date and age|df=yes|2016|03|}} | merger = | type = | tax_id =  | registration_id =  | status = | purpose = Social communication through mass media and information technology | headquarters = | location = | coordinates =  | region_served = | services = | products = | methods = | fields = | num_members = | num_members_year = | language = | owner =  | secretary_general = | leader_title = President | leader_name = | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | board_of_directors = | key_people = | main_organ = Commission | parent_organization = Roman Curia | subsidiaries = Vatican Film Library | secessions = | affiliations = | budget = | budget_year = | revenue = | revenue_year = | disbursements = | expenses = | expenses_year = | endowment = | num_staff = | num_staff_year = | num_volunteers = | num_volunteers_year = | slogan = | mission = | website =  | remarks = | former_name = Pontifical Commission for the Study and Ecclesiastical Evaluation of Films on Religious or Moral Subjects<br>Pontifical Commission for Educational and Religious Films<br>Pontifical Commission for Cinema<br>Pontifical Commission for the Cinema, Radio and Television<br>Pontifical Commission for Social Communications | footnotes = <ref name="VaticanVaProfile"/><ref name="Cheney2016"/><ref name="Kappeler2009"/> }} {{Roman Curia}} The '''Pontifical Council for Social Communications''' ({{langx|la|Pontificium Consilium de Communicationibus Socialibus}}) was a dicastery of the Roman Curia that was suppressed in March 2016 and merged into the Secretariat for Communication<ref name="Francis2015">{{cite web|author=Francis, Pope|date=27 June 2015|title=For the establishment of the Secretariat for Communication|website=vatican.va|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio_20150627_segreteria-comunicazione.html|access-date=16 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707002310/http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio_20150627_segreteria-comunicazione.html|archive-date=7 July 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> (now the Dicastery for Communication).

According to ''Pastor bonus'', Pope John Paul II's 1988 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, the council was "involved in questions regarding the means of social communication, so that, also by these means, human progress and the message of salvation may benefit secular culture and mores."<ref name="PastorBonus"/> It worked "to encourage and support" the Church and its members in social communication to imbue mass media "with a human and Christian spirit."<ref name="PastorBonus">{{cite web|author=John Paul II, Pope|date=28 June 1988|title=Pastor bonus|website=vatican.va|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19880628_pastor-bonus-roman-curia_en.html|access-date=25 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010223175311/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19880628_pastor-bonus-roman-curia_en.html|archive-date=23 February 2001|url-status=live|at=nn. 169–170}}</ref>{{rp|at=n. 170}}

==History== First established by Pope Pius XII in 1948 and later given wider jurisdiction and new names by successive popes, most recently by John Paul II on 28 June 1988, it was responsible for using mass media to spread the Gospel.<ref name="VaticanVaProfile">{{cite web|title=A brief outline and history of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications|website=vatican.va|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_pro_14101999_en.html|access-date=16 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418102359/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_pro_14101999_en.html|archive-date=18 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kappeler2009">See also, {{cite book|last=Kappeler|first=Warren A.|year=2009|chapter=The communications legacy of Vatican II|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afQTjFLhBUwC&pg=PA71|title=Communication habits for the pilgrim church: Vatican teaching on media and society|series=American University Studies: Series 7, Theology and Religion|volume=287|location=New York|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=9781453904251|pages=71–98}}</ref>

It was established by the Secretariat of State as the '''Pontifical Commission for the Study and Ecclesiastical Evaluation of Films on Religious or Moral Subjects''' and was renamed the '''Pontifical Commission for Educational and Religious Films''' later that year.<ref name="VaticanVaProfile"/> The commission was renamed to the '''Pontifical Commission for Cinema''' in 1952, to the '''Pontifical Commission for the Cinema, Radio and Television''' in 1954, and became a permanent office of the Secretariat of State in 1959. It was reorganized as the '''Pontifical Commission for Social Communications''' in April 1964.<ref name="VaticanVaProfile"/> The commission was renamed ''Pontifical Council for Social Communications'' and promoted to a dicastery of the Roman Curia in March 1989.<ref name="PastorBonus"/> The council was suppressed in March 2016.<ref name="Cheney2016"/>

==Publications== The {{abbr|PCSC|Pontifical Council for Social Communications}} and its predecessor bodies have published a number of statements on various topics connected with social communications, including: *{{cite book|date=23 May 1971|title=Communio et progressio|type=pastoral instruction}} Written "by order of the Second Vatican Council".<ref>Holy See, [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_23051971_communio_en.html Pastoral Instruction: Communio et progressio], accessed on 5 August 2025</ref> *{{cite book|date=7 May 1989|title=Pornography and violence in the communications media: a pastoral response|isbn=9781433105432|oclc=718088151|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_07051989_pornography_en.html|last1=Kappeler|first1=Warren Anthony}} *{{cite book|date=22 February 1992|title=Aetatis Novae|type=pastoral instruction|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_22021992_aetatis_en.html}} *{{cite book|date=October 1996|title=100 Years of Cinema|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_19960101_100-cinema_en.html}} *{{cite book|date=22 February 1997|title=Ethics in Advertising|isbn=9781433105432|oclc=47657206|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_22021997_ethics-in-ad_en.html|last1=Kappeler|first1=Warren Anthony}} *{{cite book|date=2 June 2000|title=Ethics in Communication|isbn=9781433105432|oclc=838938585|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20000530_ethics-communications_en.html|last1=Kappeler|first1=Warren Anthony}} *{{cite book|date=28 February 2002|title=The Church and Internet|isbn=9788820972783|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_church-internet_en.html}} *{{cite book|date=28 February 2002|title=Ethics in Internet|isbn=9788820972820|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_ethics-internet_en.html}} *''Temas candentes. Respeto a la vida. Pornografía y violencia - Vida artificial - Homosexualidad''. (1989). Vatican City: Ediciones Paulinas/ Editorial Salesiana.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pontifical Council for Social Communications|first=Roman Catholic Church|title=Temas candentes. Respeto a la vida. Pornografía y violencia - Vida artificial - Homosexualidad|publisher=Ediciones Paulinas / Editorial Salesiana|year=1989|location=Vatican City|oclc=1105262074}}</ref>

In addition, the PCSC helped to draft John Paul II's 2005 apostolic letter ''The Rapid Development'', on technological changes in the media.

==List of presidents==

*{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|df=yes|1948||}}|end_date={{End date|df=yes|1971||}}|event=Martin John O'Connor}}<ref name="VaticanVaProfile"/> *{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|df=yes|1969||}}|end_date={{End date|df=yes|1971||}}|event=Agostino Ferrari Toniolo as pro-president}}<ref name="VaticanVaProfile"/> *{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|df=yes|1971||}}|end_date={{End date|df=yes|1973||}}|event={{Interlanguage link multi|Edward Louis Heston|it}}}}<ref name="VaticanVaProfile"/> *{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|df=yes|1973||}}|end_date={{End date|df=yes|1984||}}|event=Andrzej Maria Deskur}}<ref name="VaticanVaProfile"/> *{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|df=yes|1984||}}|end_date={{End date|df=yes|2007||}}|event=John Patrick Foley}}<ref name="VaticanVaProfile"/> *{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|df=yes|2007||}}|end_date={{End date|df=yes|2016||}}|event=Claudio Maria Celli}}<ref name="Cheney2016">{{Catholic-hierarchy|diocese|dxsco|Pontifical Council for Social Communications|access-date=17 May 2016|url=http://catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dxsco.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407175630/http://catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dxsco.html|url-status=dead| archive-date=7 April 2016}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/index.htm Official Vatican website] *[https://www.youtube.com/vatican The Vatican YouTube Channel] {{Roman Curia footer|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Pontifical Council for Social Communications Category:Mass media in Vatican City Category:Catholic media Social Communications Category:Christian organizations established in 1948 Category:Religious organizations disestablished in 2016 Category:Catholic organizations established in the 20th century Category:1948 establishments in Italy Category:2016 disestablishments in Italy Category:Former departments of the Roman Curia