The first OCIC juries were in Venice and Cannes in the late 1940s. The

first ecumenical jury, a joint OCIC and Interfilm jury, was inaugurated in

1974.

Unda has had juries in Monte Carlo, Montreux, Banff and for the annual Prix

Italia. With the World Association for Christian Communication (W.A.A.C.),

a festival of religious television productions is organised every two years

in a European city, more recently in Toulouse and St Petersburg.

PRIZE WINNERS

The first winners of ecumenical awards at Cannes were Rainer Werner

Fassbinder's Fear Eats the Soul and Coppola's The Conversation (1974).

Since then, several films which have become classics have won awards.

Andrei Tarkovski's films have done well in Cannes: Stalker (1980),

Nostalghia (1983), The Sacrifice (1986); Krysztoff Zanussi has done well in

several venues, Cannes: The Spiral (1978), Constans (1980), Locarno:

Illumination (1973), Montreal: The Omen of Passion (1985), Moscow: The

Inventory (1989), as has Ken Loach, Cannes: Looks and Smiles (1980), Hidden

Agenda (1990), Berlin: Ladybird, Ladybird (1994).

Other significant winning directors include Rohmer, Szabo, Goretta, Olmi,

the Tavianis, Guney, Wenders, Herzog, Rivette, Spike Lee, Yang Zhimou,

Amelio, Davies, Jarmusch, Tornatore, Sheridan, Holland, Bolognini, Egoyan,

Rickman, Kieslowski, Tavernier, Mike Leigh, Mikhailov and multiple winners,

Wajda, Angelopolous and Cavalier.

Continental European films have won the majority of awards, but each

continent has been represented: North America with Egoyan's Family Viewing

(Locarno, 1988), The Sweet Hereafter (Cannes 1997) and Tim Robbins' Dead

Man Walking (Berlin, 1996). Latin America with Puenzo's The Official Story

(Cannes,1985) and Tomas Gutierrez Alea's Strawberry and Chocolate (Berlin,

1994), Asia with Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth (Locarno, 1985), Africa with

Yaaba (Cannes 1989) and Australasia with Brian McKenzie's With Love to the

Person Next to Me (Locarno, 1987) and Lee Tamahori's Once Were Warriors

(Montreal, 1994).

CHURCH PRESENCE TO CINEMA CULTURE

This presence to the cinema culture and to the film industry has given the

church greater credibility in its dialogue with cinema and offered to

church members an opening to a significant part of 20th century art and

popular culture.

With the centenary of cinema symposium, sponsored by OCIC and WACC (World

Association of Christian Communication), in Los Angeles, June 1995, church

bodies attempted to combine efforts to dialogue with cinema and to reflect

further on the religious dimensions of film, a theology and spirituality of

cinema as well as confronting the changing expressions of moral values and

the criteria for juries to make awards. With the maturing of cinema (as

well as the inevitable exploitation), more `controversial' films are

screened at festivals and are eligible for awards. How are they to be

appreciated and assessed?

OFFICIAL CATHOLIC DOCUMENTATION ON CINEMA

The first encyclical letter on media was that of Pius XI on June 26th 1936

with the perhaps ominous title, Vigilanti Cura. It was written principally

for the American Bishops and took the founding of the Legion of Decency as

an occasion for a reflection on the forty year old medium. However, it is

not a merely negative response to cinema. For instance, while it warns

that it 'must be elevated to conformity with the aims of a Christian

conscience and saved from depraving and demoralising effects', a key

paragraph begins.

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... (n.23).

This is a very strong affirmation of the power of cinema - and of its

potential place in education and evangelising, 'more effective' than

abstract reasoning.

Twenty one years later, Pius XII, who had already addressed many groups

concerned with the media, elaborated on the themes of his predecessor,

widening them to radio and television. The title is significant in tone,

Miranda Prorsus, ('Those very remarkable technical inventions'). Once

again, while there is concern about exploitation of the media and the

danger to audiences, there is a positive tone, especially concerning media

awareness and education.

In order, then, that in such conditions shows of this kind may be

able to pursue their object, it is essential that the minds and

inclinations of the spectators be rightly trained and educated, so that

they many not only understand the form proper to each of the arts but also

be guided, especially in this matter, by a right conscience. Thus they

will be enabled to practise mature consideration and judgment on the

various items which the film or television screen puts before them...

(n.57).

Pius XII was not just advocating moral education but acknowledged that

moral discernment presupposed that an audience appreciated how the medium

created and communicated.

This was re-affirmed at Council Level at the first session of the Second

Vatican Council, 1962, in the Decree Inter Mirifica, again taking the

positive tone. It also chose to use the phrase 'social communications'

with reference to the media and its impact. However, the work of the

council, which included the establishing of a Commission for Social

Communications, which came into effect in April 1964 (becoming the

Pontifical Council for Social Communications in June, 1988), was amplified

in the post-conciliar document, Communio et Progressio (1971). Communio et

Progressio referred to the media as 'gifts of God'.

This very long document considering all aspects of communication and the

range of media, placing communication in a deeper religious and theological

context. The document also takes for granted the role of cinema in the

world and rightly anticipated the development in the 80s and 90s:

The Cinema is part of contemporary life. It exerts a strong

influence on education, knowledge, culture and leisure. The artist finds

in film a very effective means of expressing his interpretation of life,

and one that well suits his times. The improvement of techniques that

increase audience-participation and the general availability at low cost of

filming and projecting equipment presage an even wider use of films in the

future. Because of all this, it is possible to derive a deeper

appreciation and a richer cultural dividend from the film and filming

(n.142).

It goes on to encourage one of the principal activities that OCIC engages

in:

Many films have compellingly treated subjects that concern human

progress or spiritual values. Such works deserve praise and support. The

Catholic organisations specialising in films should be among the first to

support them. They should also promote these films in an organised manner.

In this connection, it will be recalled that among films which have been

widely accepted as classics, many have dealt with specifically religious

themes (n.144).

The listing of a selection of films for the centenary of cinema in 1996 by

the Pontifical Council drew attention to this, its list including Bunuel's

Nazarin, Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Spielberg's Schindler's List.

Twenty years after Communio et Progressio, the Pontifical Council's

Pastoral Instruction, Aetatis Novae (Dawn of a New Era) was still urging

this positive approach to media and urging Bishops to implement pastoral

planning for media.

Another source of statements on Church and Media is the collection of Papal

Messages for the celebration of World Communications Day. They have been

issued since 1967 with that of 1995 being specifically on cinema. The

final message of the 90s continues this positive approach: 'Mass Media: a

friendly companion to those in search of the Father'.

The history of church and media, and cinema, has reflected the dilemmas of

condemnation of the negative and encouragement of the positive. During the

1980s, the conference of Asian Catholic Bishops and their Social

Communications Committee published a number of documents on church and

media. (Church being used in a generic sense, applying to most of the

individual denominational churches.) One of them highlighted these

dilemmas for changing official attitudes (which strongly influence their

members).

They reflected that, first, the church has tended to be wary, even

suspicious, of a new medium. It has often issued condemnatory statements -

and its members absorb this attitude and sometimes have developed

deep-seated hostility. The church stance is outside the media or at the

periphery.

Later, the church begins to realise the power and range of the media, the

access to so many people, religious or not. Evangelisation (and, often,

proselytising) can be done through the media and the church decides to use

it. The church has come in from the edge.

However, the Asian bishops state that the latter part of the 20th century

has seen the church come to understand the media better, to see media as

`gifts of God', and has moved towards the centre (not everywhere, of

course, but much more than in the past). The role of the church is one of

service to the people working in the industry and to the audiences, a

pastoral role. The role of the church is also one of critical

appreciation, of evaluation and of media education. The work of ecumenical

juries, the communication of the criteria for judging, the promotion of

award-winning films and dialogue with the film-makers is a significant part

of this pastoral role of the church at the centre of media.

EXPLICITLY RELIGIOUS FILMS

It is easy to appreciate films when they are strong in values, in religious

and Christian values, especially when they are explicit. In the past, many

of the biblical movie epics have been based on a fundamentalist

interpretation of scripture (and woven into a De Mille-like showmanship of

religious sex and violence). They have tended to be regarded as religious

showbusiness. Exceptions are the gospel movies of Pasolini, Zeffirelli,

Scorsese and Denys Arcand. There have also been many pious movies, lives

of saints (Francis of Assisi and Joan of Arc being the most screened movie

saints) which were exhortatory to good deeds as they offered edifying role

models.

However, Dreyer and Bresson have shown how austere lives of saints can

become classics and how Joan of Arc has touched the 20th century

consciousness.

Then there have been any number of proper stories about ministers of

religion and about nuns.

However, there have been excellent films probing the meaning of vocation

and ministry, profoundly religious films that go beyond the easy

hagiography, film versions of Bernanos and Greene novels to the recent

questioning of compulsory celibacy for catholic clergy in Priest as well as

to the contemporary ministry of a nun in prisons, Dead Man Walking.

This is not to say, of course, that every use of explicitly religious

imagery is `of faith'; most of the explicit imagery comes from biblical and

gospel stories, but it comes from what we might call a 'Gospel of culture'

and its corresponding `Jesus of culture'. This is the Jesus available to

all cultures and creeds through 20 centuries of art, literature and

tradition as a source of inspiration (and, sometimes, contradiction). It

does not come from a `Jesus of Faith', an explicit faith-response to the

person of Jesus.

A strong example of an explicitly religious ecumenical award winner is

Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast (1987), with its 19th century Danish

Lutheran setting re-created from the writing of Isaak Dinensen and its

climax in the rich symbolism of the banquet and the themes of eucharist and

reconciliation. Babette's Feast went on to win the 1988 Academy Award for

Best Foreign Language film.

IMPLICITLY RELIGIOUS FILMS

But, most films are not explicitly religious. Those involved in cinema

culture have been and are increasingly studying how to appreciate the

implicit religious values that underlie so much of cinema storytelling.

They try to appreciate the genres and their conventions so that the

storytelling will be seen and heard properly and not be misunderstood.

They gauge the world that the story creates, whether it be a world of myth

or parable, a world of satire or propaganda. They look at the basic human

drives that are being dramatised, films as a way in which an implicit

message is being communicated and the worth and morality of that message.

A recent award winner that touched audiences everywhere was Mike Leigh's

harrowing study of a family, Secrets and Lies.

A crucial question is whether Christian cinema culture has kept pace with

world cinema culture - not one dictating to the other but, rather, a mutual

understanding. This does put the onus on Christian cinema culture to be

self-reflective, self-critical as well as to be developing a sophisticated

knowledge and expertise. This will, clearly, vary from denomination to

denomination and from country to country and culture to culture.

CODES AND CLASSIFICATIONS

The English-speaking world has taken a more outspoken attitude towards

media and films. The British censor took stances against nudity and the

direct visualising of Jesus in 1913! But the Americans tended to lead the

way in an earnest and aggressive criticism in establishing the Legion of

Decency and its pledges in the early 30s, and in the writing of the Motion

Picture Code which now, to say the least, seems extraordinarily prudish and

quaint. Different nations have different codes in relation to moral issues

- for instance the reserve of India or Japan as regards explicit sexual

representation compared with the openness of Scandinavian countries, the

visual violence of Hong Kong and Asian action films compared with the

reserve of Scandinavian countries. Matters have changed during the last

thirty years.

However, religious protests still occur: 1985, Jean-Luc Godard's Hail Mary

with Maronites taking to the streets in the centre of Sydney to defend the

honour of Mary; 1988 with strict Greek Orthodox protesters and their

banners against Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ and 25,000

fundamentalist Americans rallying at Universal Studios in Los Angeles

demanding the burning of the negative; 1995 and angry Catholics threatening

to place bombs in New Jersey cinemas screening Priest.

MEDIA AWARENESS

But official church stances do not encourage this kind of protest. While

there may be a need for crusade, the churches tend to advocate media

awareness and media education programs.

This has been especially the case since the 1960s. In fact, it seems that

the period from the mid-60s to the mid-70s was a particularly strong era of

the churches working towards understanding of and interpreting cinema.

(John R. May's chapter in the book he edited on `The New Image of Religious

Film', Sheed and Ward, Kansas City, 1997, lists and comments on various

contributors, providing an invaluable critical tool highlighting writings

in English during this formative period.) It was the era of the emergence

of the Christian cinema buffs (paralleling the movements like those of the

Cahiers du Cinema writers in France in the late 50s, the work of the

British Film Institute in the U.K. and many North American groups). The

church groups were backed, as has been considered, by the official

documents, the Vatican II declaration on Social Communications, 'Inter

Mirifica' and the post-conciliar documents, especially, Communio et

Progressio (1971).

Since the early days of OCIC, writers have responded to the religious

meanings of films. By the 1960s a number of film critics were writing

books on theology and cinema. With the emphasis on meanings and

interpretation, what one might call a `spirituality' of cinema also emerged

at this time and is still being developed today. It was in this context

that the first ecumenical jury, for the Cannes Festival of 1974, was

established. This `movement' received some structuring as Interfilm

defined its interests and activities, as OCIC developed and as WACC

gradually developed its understanding of cinema as a significant part of

world communication.

But juries have also have had to take into account the changes in

film-making since the mid-70s, the instant availability of so many films

(both contemporary and from the past) on television and, particularly, at

hand for video-watching, changes in community standards and the struggles

by governments to oversee film exhibition with classifications and

censorship decisions.

Popular films still raise problems for particular countries, especially

under the familiar headings of language, sexuality and nudity and violence.

The colloquial swearing of black Americans in films by Spike Lee or John

Singleton may scarcely raise an eyebrow in the US but it strikes other

cultures as foul-mouthed expression. What nudity can be permitted on the

screen in Japan or India may seem unduly restrictive to Europeans. The

`comic-strip' violence in car chases or the prevalence of guns taken for

granted by the big-budget American action movies seems extreme and even

dangerous for other cultures where possession of guns is much more

controlled.

Obviously, members of ecumenical juries will bring some of their cultural

presuppositions and stances to their viewing of competition films and their

criteria for judging. A useful example from the OCIC jury at Venice, 1994,

is that of the `Mention' for what, in fact, was a Golden Lion winner,

Before the Rain. It was set during the Balkan wars of those years. Some

jury members found the violence too strong, perhaps excessive, while others thought the

violence entirely appropriate in context.

BEYOND THE `ENTERTAINMENT ONLY' SYNDROME

While there has always been adult cinema, the cinema has had a history of

being seen as popular entertainment, as entertainment for `the masses'.

This has led to world-wide expectations that movies not be too demanding,

be entertaining and be box-office champions rather than box-office flops.

This has led to a `lowest common denominator' in content and style rather

than finding a `highest common factor'!

But cinema has, in the last two or three decades, moved a long way from the

`entertainment only' syndrome. There is truly adult cinema - despite that

title being appropriated by the pornography industry to dignify itself.

Adult cinema, like literature and theatre, takes significant issues,

harrowing issues, morally debatable issues and dramatises them, often

frankly and very seriously. There are a number of `art-house' cinemas all

round the world which bring many of these films to a wider public - and

there are `art-film' sections in the video stores. Some cable channels

are specialists with this kind of film.

The question arises, of course, as to whether church members are really

aware of this and whether they agree with this. How far has media

awareness and education permeated church members? If jurors respond to

`controversial' films and give them awards (and publicists use this

information in their promotion and marketing), how do church members

respond? The citations attempt to highlight the values, but the brevity of

the citation means that the message is not always clear to those who have

not seen the award-winning film, the danger being that the film is praised

for 'its contribution to the understanding of the human condition' and so

on.

All topics and issues can be validly portrayed in art. There is no limit

to `what' is presented. The limitations come in the `how' the issue is

presented: questions of sensitivities and community standards.

CONTROVERSIAL FILMS

Another OCIC example is useful for raising questions as to how jury members

deal with controversial films and make distinctions between the `what' and

the `how' of the film and the merits or the abuses of the `how'. There was

long debate in Venice, 1993, about Bad Boy Bubby (which eventually won the

Jury Prize and International Critics Prize). A majority of the jury

considered it worth considering for the OCIC award. However, it was also

described by a jury member as `bestial' and `unethical'. The discussion

was very fruitful in airing the complexity of the issues it raised and the

quite differing sensibilities amongst the jury members. Eventually, the

prize went to Three Colours: Blue with the mention going to Bad Boy Bubby

as some of the jury could not live with Bubby winning the award. (When it

was released in its native Australia in 1994, it won several Australian

Film Institute awards including director and screenplay, but did not win

the OCIC Australia award, with some Catholic reviewers considering it

`sick' and `indescribably vile'.) It is clear that jurors at festivals are

required to give a great deal of consideration to their stances on values

and controversial issues.

This is especially the case with films that deal with explicitly religious

themes or use Christian symbols and images. The 1995 Berlin festival had

several of this kind of film in the main competition: Michael

Winterbottom's Butterfly Kiss with Amanda Plummer as a serial killer who

imagined herself to be a latter-day Judith, Patricia Roszema's When Night

is Falling, a film with lesbian themes, set in a Canadian theological

college, and Abel Ferrara's intense (in literal black and white) allegory

of evil through vampirism in New York city (and again using the setting of

theological studies with the screenplay by Nicholas St John foot-noted with

theological references), The Addiction. In 1996 at Venice, Ferrara's

portrait of New York gangsters, The Funeral - again written by Nicholas St

John - shared the OCIC prize with Jacques Doillon's study of a little girl

and death, Ponette. Drawing out the religious symbolism and theological

insights in The Funeral was one of the tasks of the jury.

The members of international juries also come from different cultures with

different approaches to festivals, their role, status and influence.

'DE PROFUNDIS' FILMS

Reference has been made to Bad Boy Bubby and its presenting `vile things'

but not vilely. Some European theologians have drawn on the Psalms and

referred to this kind of film as a `de profundis' film. Such a film shows

the human condition in all its ugliness and desperation: men and women

crying out in agony without knowing whether anyone, human or divine, can

hear their voice. We know that life is a search for God and that many

search in byways rather than highways and find themselves, not

infrequently, in dead ends. The portrayal of these searches may be ugly,

but they are still searches for the transcendent and for God. This is the

world of Mean Streets or Taxi Driver, of Bad Lieutenant or The Addiction,

of Pulp Fiction or Very Bad Things. Is it the world of Bergman, Fellini,

Bunuel or Almodovar? Do ecumenical juries need to have experience of

these `de profundis' films which may deserve to be winners of awards but

which could, perhaps, `scandalise' the `faithful'?

We have, in this post-modern era, to acknowledge that for so many

individuals and societies, the absolutes have been lost while they still

search for values. The post-modern collapse of the Soviet bloc serves as a

mirror and as a parable for our times as do the frightening civil wars of

the 90s in Africa and in the Balkans.

The two major Oscar nominees of 1994 showed something of these

contradictions of how we respond to the cinema after 100 years, especially

the changing attitudes in the different generations. Forrest Gump and Pulp

Fiction are mirror films. Significantly, Pulp Fiction won at Cannes but

not at the Oscars. The American Academy voted for Forrest Gump. For the

over-40s audience generally, Forrest Gump was an enjoyable opportunity to

reflect and remember where they were at the time of the episodes portrayed

in the film: from Elvis and Rock'n'Roll to JFK, from Vietnam, fighting and

protest, to the computer age. The under-40s saw Forrest Gump as too 'nice

and sweet' and too American for their interests and tastes. With Pulp

Fiction, the over-40s found it difficult to sit through, the incessant

language and the violence, the circuitous structure, the black humour. But

for the under-40s, even those of more `refined' sensibilities, it appealed

as a clever film, funny and irreverent, with smart talk about banalities as

well as profundities in human experience. It echoes the spirit of the

times.

FESTIVALS

The festivals in the different continents and regions of the world reflect

the differing approaches to cinema. For Europe and Latin America, there is

a love of cinema, a serious approach to production, critique and study,

where festivals are events with considerable prestige. Asia and Africa

have a great number of national cinemas with language and enormous cultural

variety. Some have had a long life; others are still emerging. Festivals

contribute to national feelings, to regional development and promotion of

the industry and of the nation and its culture. In Australia and New

Zealand, their own cinema has been vital for over twenty five years at home

and to the world. Festivals have been limited to cinema buffs and awards

are made to short films only. There is minimal local movie-making in the

island countries of the Pacific.

While North America has many festivals, the history of the movies is so

bound to the US and to Hollywood that awards tend to be promotion and

market driven rather than highlighting intrinsic quality.

But the wide-ranging nature of cinema culture makes demands on jurors.

Immediately, the question arises as to how cinema literate a juror needs to

be. Should jurors be well informed about the history of cinema? genres

and conventions? technical and technological developments? Should they be

film buffs? or regular movie-goers? even have a love for cinema?

how broad should be their taste? how commercially or non-commercially

oriented?

There is an interesting cultural difference in the more abstract and

theoretical interests of nations who speak French, Spanish, or German

compared with the practical and even pragmatic approach of the nations who

speak English. For mutual respect and understanding, jurors need to

appreciate this difference. It tends to determine the immediate approach

taken to the value of a film and its impact.

Every culture has its mind-sets - and mind-sets about films in festival

competitions. Non-Europeans sometimes tend to think that Europeans assume

a somewhat superior attitude towards cinema, reacting to the swamping of

local film distribution by American product. Europeans tend to think that

English-speakers are more aligned with pop and popular culture, commercial

culture. As regards particular Asian cinema industries, western

commentators and critics tend to establish what is `in' and what is `out'.

Was the cinema of an independent Hong Kong superior to that of the People's

Republic of China? and what of Taiwan's cinema? what is the cutting edge

of Japanese cinema, Indian cinema? How strong is the voice of Asian

critics, commentators, jurors, especially in comparison with European

voices?

It is only courtesy that the host city for a festival and the host country

will determine the tone and contents of the festival program. Visitors to

the country will need to be open to the local culture and concerns and the

style in which these are expressed. A visitor to Berlin, for instance,

will have to be aware of German heritage as well as its history during the

20th century. Its geographical position in Europe is significant, its

crises of culture and religious perspective. Jurors familiar with Germany

and its neighbours will obviously be more in tune with a Russian film that

explores its society than visitors from the other side of the world. The

lack of specific cultural references requires a great deal of effort for a

juror - whether to give an award to Lupochanski's Russian Symphony (full of

references to Russian literature and recent history), a 1995 Berlin issue,

much more accessible to central and northern European jurors or to Michael

Apted's Moving the Mountain which, while specifically examining the people

and events of Tianenmin Square, Beijing, 1989, was made by an English

director who also works in the US and had a world-wide audience in mind in

making the film?

RELIGIOUS AND MORAL STANCES

The question needs to be raised of the juror's religious and moral stances

in approaching festival films. When the film is explicitly religious,

there would seem to be little difficulty. However, in an age of pluralism

in theological understandings and expression, there may be need for

clarification of theological terms, for example, sin and grace. With the

release of The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, a number of critics

wanted to examine the contribution of novelist Nicos Kazantzakis with his

Greek Orthodox background, director Martin Scorsese and his

Italian-American Catholicism and writer Paul Schrader with his

middle-American Calvinism. This related to theological understandings of

the person of Jesus, humanity and divinity, to expression and to images and

iconography.

Besides doctrinal discussions, there may be need for ethical and moral

discussions, especially where there may be different stances and there may

be ambiguities. Recent discussions on death and euthanasia are relevant.

Issues of sexuality have been a constant area of discussion.

Sensitivities need to be taken into account in depictions of the churches

and their history and critiques of church life.

How does an ecumenical discussion of La Reine Margot or of Elizabeth

proceed?

CRITERIA FOR AWARDS

The preceding material is brought together in criteria developed by OCIC

and Interfilm for judging films for their awards:

1. The film is of high artistic quality.

2. The film dramatises positive human values.

3. The values dramatised in the film can be seen in the light

of the message of the Gospel.

4. The film challenges its audience to respond to its social

and justice dimensions and can be used with groups to

understand issues through story and symbols.

5. The film reflects its culture, helping its audience to respect

the language and the images of that culture.

6. The film has a universal impact and is not confined to its

national or local context.

The awards are also a means for a film, not in the mainstream, finding

distribution and a wider audience.

OCIC is active in more than 130 countries so part of its mandate is to

increase awareness and sensivity to a variety of people and traditions and

to expose audiences to films from different cultures.

_________________

On the verge of the 21st century and the second century of cinema,

the churches are trying to - and must - dialogue with the popular and

serious worlds of the movies.

Note: an accessible resource for reading official Catholic

documents on the media is Church and Social Communications, Basic

Documents, Introduced and edited by Franz-Josef Eilers SVD (Logos

Publications, Manila, 1993). Not only does Fr Eilers include the major

documents but he writes an introduction to each, situating it in the

history of the Church's attitudes towards communications and media, but

also giving the immediate background to the issuing of each document thus

giving them long-term and short-term contexts.