Commemorating Communio et Progressio in Asian Perspective
On June 3, 1971, a new document on social communication was presented by Gordon G. Cardinal Gray (Edinburgh) to journalists at the Vatican Press Hall. The document was the pastoral instruction for social communication Communio et Progressio, officially dated May 23, 1971. The instruction was demanded by the Vatican II Decree on Social Communication, Inter Mirifica (1963), saying: “The Council expressly directs the Commission of the Holy See to publish a Pastoral Instruction, with the help of experts from various countries to ensure that all principles and rules of the Council on the means of social communication be put into effect” (no. 23).
The background to this is the fact that the Council Fathers were originally presented with a document of 114 paragraphs which they felt would go beyond their own knowledge of the field. They, therefore, proposed a document with the essentials – the now Inter Mirifica decree – with only 24 paragraphs to be extended for practical use through a Pastoral Instruction and to be elaborated by the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications with the help of experts.
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