Charitable Instruction: Towards a Catholic-Thomistic Response to Misinformation

RELIGION AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATION VOLUME 23, NO. 2 (JULY - DECEMBER 2025)

ISSN 3057-0883 (ONLINE)

Author

Wesley Kim D. Soguilon

Abstract

One of the problems the Philippines faces is the plague of misinformation, and this paper provides the groundwork for a possible Catholic-Thomistic response. In this work, the researcher attempts to answer the question of why Catholics need to solve this problem and what they can do to solve it. The paper resolves this question by arguing that it is the obligation of Catholics to share the truth through charitable instruction. The work then suggests that training programs dealing with misinformation and appropriate social media usage should be given at the parochial and grassroots levels. It also advocates for the utilization of Catholic schools by teaching students how to use social media properly and how to charitably instruct others to be wise on online platforms. Furthermore, the work reminds Catholics that they urge the state to uphold the common good by enacting programs that support charitable instruction in the context of social media usage in the country, whether by revamping the educational system or by boosting the country’s fact-checking capabilities. To arrive at this, the work discusses the following: the Catholic social teachings on the Christian call to instruct the ignorant vis-à-vis St. Thomas Aquinas’ views on it and the societal common good in Catholic doctrine. From there, the researcher extrapolates a possible response to misinformation that Catholics may adopt. Practical recommendations are then given toward the end of the paper.

 Keywords

misinformation, common good, instruction of the ignorant, work of mercy, charity

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Pages 274-296

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62461/WKS041125

Submitted: Dec. 22, 2024; Accepted: March 15, 2025; Published: Jul. 1, 2025

© 2025 The authors. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).