How does the Magisterium protect the faithful and the general public against misinformation of the Catholic faith in the Internet Era?

Upvote:1

To address the overarching concerns expressed here, the Church does continue her practice of approving materials for the faithful to learn from even to this very day. Bishops usually have appointed a priest within their diocese, the censor deputatus, to screen material petitioning for a Nihil Obstat before granting it. After a Nihil Obstat is granted, the bishop grants his official stamp of approval with the imprimatur. In general, the faithful should be able to trust any worked printed with a Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, which you can find on or near the title page. The process is explained on a high level here.

In addition, some diocese require teachers to be certified through a diocesan office. For instance, the Archdiocese of Detroit does this. And the USCCB has an office to assist with this sort of thing. This would be more up to the individual preferences of a particular bishop.

Lastly, you can trust material printed by organizations run by bishops, or which operate with their bishop's approval, since the bishops represent the teaching authority of the Church. Bishop Robert Barron's Word on Fire ministry is an example of this. Since Bishop Barron is a Bishop, faithful Catholics can follow his guidance and the guidance of the ministry he directly oversees (as an extension of his office) because he has been charged to shepherd the flock as a Bishop.

Edit: I wanted to add a caveat to this. Often today we do have irresponsible bishops and even bishops who flirt with heresy. There's not much more that the faithful can do about this than they could in olden days. Study the official documents of the Church, which the internet makes freely available to all via the Vatican website. If a bishop is preaching something directly contrary to these, don't listen to him. Otherwise, follow what he teaches.

Upvote:2

There has been talk of this:

  1. The Synod hopes that in the Church appropriate official bodies for digital culture and evangelization are established at appropriate levels, which, with the indispensable contribution of young people, promote ecclesial action and reflection in this environment. Among their functions, in addition to promoting the exchange and dissemination of good practices at a personal and community level, and to develop adequate tools for digital education and evangelization, could also a [sic] manage certification systems of Catholic sites, to counter the spread of fake news regarding the Church, and looking for ways to persuade public authorities to promote increasingly stringent policies and tools for the protection of minors on the web.

—Synod of Bishops, XVth Ordinary General Assembly final document “The Young, Faith, and Vocational Discernment”, Oct. 27, 2018, n. 146 (bold added)
transl.: “Liberal Censorship: Synod asks Vatican to create ‘Vatican Certification’ of Acceptable Websites”, Rorate Caeli, Oct. 30, 2018
transcript.: “Vatican Synod proposes ‘Certification Systems’ for Web Sites to counter ‘Fake News’”, Novus Ordo Watch, Oct. 31, 2018

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