A Catholic bishop called on the youth to fight disinformation online by helping spread the Good News.
With the steep rise in trolling, Bishop Crispin Varquez of Borongan said it’s about time for the youth to help combat the fake news cycle and “dominate social media” with stories of God’s mercy. Trolling is the act of making deliberately offensive or provocative online posts.
“You must counterattack fake news and trolls with the Good News of God’s love and mercy,” Varquez said in an article posted at the web site of Este, the news service of the Diocese of Borongan.
“You can even use Facebook to spread truth and be instruments of communion in a world that hungers for God,” he said.
The bishop made the statement in his recent homily during the Mass for the fifth Regional Youth Day (RYD) at the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral in Naval, Biliran.
Held every three years, the three-day Catholic event gathered more than a thousand youth from Central and Eastern Visayas.
Hosted this year by the Diocese of Naval, delegates came from the archdioceses of Cebu and Palo, and the dioceses of Calbayog, Catarman, Borongan, Maasin, Dumaguete, Talibon and Tagbilaran.
Bishop Varquez strongly challenged the delegates to use social media “wisely and responsibly”, adding there are many ways they can help evangelize others.
“One way is through reading the Sacred Scriptures,” he said. “Upload Bible verses instead!”
As the Church observes the Year of the Parish, talks and activities of this year’s RYD were focused on teaching the delegates about their important role in the parish.
As concerns on the environment remain among the prevailing issues in the region, there were also some discussions about Pope Francis’s encyclical on ecology and care for creation, Laudato Si. CBCPNews