4 - Reasons for this letter

Just as very great advantages can arise from the wonderful advances which have been made in our day, in technical knowledge concerning Motion Pictures, Radio and Television, so too can very great dangers.

For these new possessions and new instruments which are within almost everyone's grasp, introduce a most powerful influence into men's minds, both because they can flood them with light, raise them to nobility, adorn them with beauty, and because they can disfigure them by dimming their lustre, dishonour them by a process of corruption, and make them subject to uncontrolled passions, according as the subjects presented to the senses in these shows are praiseworthy or reprehensible.¹¹

In the past century, advancing technical skill in the field of business frequently had this result: machines, which ought to serve men, when brought into use, rather reduced them to a state of slavery and caused grievous harm. Likewise today, unless the mounting development of technical skill, applied to the diffusion of pictures, sounds and ideas, is subjected to the sweet yoke of the law of Christ,¹² it can be the source of countless evils, which appear to be all the more serious, because not only material forces but also the mind are unhappily enslaved, and man's inventions are, to that extent, deprived of those advantages which, in the design of God's Providence, ought to be their primary purpose.¹³

Consequently, since We, as a father, have daily pondered with ever greater anxiety, the essential nature of this problem and have considered the salutary benefits - so far as films are concerned - which have resulted during more than two decades from the Encyclical Letter Vigilanti cura, yielding to the petitions of the Bishops and those laymen who make a study of these arts, We wish by this letter to give directives and instructions with regard to both sound broadcasting and television.

Therefore, after We have made earnest prayer to God, and sought the help of His Virgin Mother, We address you, Venerable Brethren, whose wise pastoral care is well known to Us, with a view not only to setting forth clearly the Christian doctrine in this matter, but to undertaking suitable plans and initiatives. And so, with all the force at Our command, We desire to impress upon you how the flock, committed to the care of each one, should be protected against any errors and harm from whatever source, which the use of the arts under discussion can introduce - with serious risk - to the practices of Christian life.