Church must protect youth from disinformation – Archbishop Tirona

Rolando Caceres, archbishop of Caceres. (Photo from the Facebook account of the Archdiocese of Caceres)

MANILA, Philippines — The Church must exert more effort to protect the youth against online disinformation, Rolando Tirona, the archbishop of Caceres, said in his homily on Tuesday during Mass at the Naga Cathedral.

“Our Church must protect and guide our young people, especially in this toxic environment of fake news,” Tirona said, as quoted by the CBCP News website.

Tirona was the former head of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

He also condemned what he said was “the use of young people as trolls and agents of lies”  and urged Filipinos to be vigilant on social media and be wary of fake news.

“They should know how to discern between right and wrong,” Tirona said. “So it’s important for the church to focus its attention on the youth.”

A day before, Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula also urged the Catholic faithful to use social media to defend the truth from massive disinformation and fake news.

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