The head of the Syro-Malabar Church wrote in a pastoral letter that “in an age when rumors spread rapidly and truth is frequently obscured, we must become seekers of truth like St. Thomas.”
“There is no doubt that social media is beneficial in many aspects of life,” Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil wrote in a wide-ranging letter for the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, the Syro-Malabar Church’s patron saint. “Yet it has also become a platform where falsehood, hatred, and defamation are deliberately disseminated.”
The Major Archbishop added:
When messages that malign others, harm the innocent, and spread falsehood are created or shared indiscriminately, the fifth commandment, “You shall not kill,” is violated, for such actions can wound a person’s dignity, reputation, and well-being.
Today, more than ever, we need the prudence and vigilance to examine carefully what we encounter, to verify what we do not know, to refrain from promoting what is untrue, and to courageously oppose falsehood wherever it appears.
Based in India, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (CNEWA profile) is among the Eastern Catholic churches in full communion with the Holy See.