Since then the cinema is in reality a sort of object lesson which, for
good or for evil, teaches the majority of men more effectively than abstract
reasoning, it must be elevated to conformity with the aims of a Christian
conscience and saved from depraving and demoralizing effects.
Everyone knows what damage is done to the soul by bad motion pictures.
They are occasions of sin; they seduce young people along the ways of evil by
glorifying the passions; they show life under a false light; they cloud ideals;
they destroy pure love, respect for marriage, affection for the family. They
are capable also of creating prejudices among individuals and misunderstandings
among nations, among social classes, among entire races.
On the other hand, good motion pictures are capable of exercising a
profoundly moral influence upon those who see them. In addition to affording
recreation, they are able to arouse noble ideals of life, to communicate
valuable conceptions, to impart a better knowledge of the history and the
beauties of the Fatherland and of other countries, to present truth and virtue
under attractive forms, to create, or at least to favour understanding among
nations, social classes, and races, to champion the cause of justice, to give
new life to the claims of virtue, and to contribute positively to the genesis
of a just social order in the world.