Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations and Specialized Agencies in Geneva, has warned that digital communication governed by algorithms risks amplifying outrage and polarization at the expense of truth and reconciliation.
Addressing a congress on “Digital Communication for Cultural Harmony and Environmental Well-Being,” Archbishop Nwachukwu described communication as a defining force shaping modern society. “We live in an age in which communication no longer simply describes the world; it forms the world,” he said, noting that digital technologies have erased geographical barriers and allowed messages to circle the globe within minutes.
The Nigerian-born prelate, who previously served the Aba Catholic Diocese before his December 2021 appointment to the Geneva post, cautioned that algorithm-driven platforms reward tribalism over communion. “The question is not whether the digital highway will shape culture. It already shapes culture,” he said. “The question is whether the digital highway will be built by disciples who serve communion or be left to forces that profit from division.”
Speaking to Catholic communicators, Archbishop Nwachukwu emphasized that their vocation extends beyond professional competence. They are “first and foremost disciples before they are influencers,” he said, with a duty to ensure those pushed to the margins are heard.
He called on Catholic journalists, filmmakers, and broadcasters to amplify the voices of migrants, rural communities, abuse survivors, workers, and children without advocates. This, he said, reflects the Church’s commitment to listening to victims of spiritual, economic, institutional, sexual, power-based, and conscience-related abuse in the pursuit of justice.
“It takes a deliberate, courageous, and often costly choice to turn the microphone instead toward those the algorithms would rather ignore,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said. Giving voice to the unheard, he added, is “an act of cultural harmony because a culture cannot be harmonious while entire peoples within it remain unheard and without voice.”
