What Catholic circles call social communication media are generally known elsewhere as mass media (an expression that has been popularized by the Americans), media of mass communication, collective communication media, modern techniques in publicity, and so forth.

The Catholic expression, coined and spread by the Second Vatican Council in its decree Inter Mirifica, highlights the role that these media, ideally, should play. To communicate is to convey and share. By exchanging what they have, men help each other, draw together, and come to resembl…