THE PRESS OFFICE OF THE ROMANIAN PATRIARCHATE, informs us:

Taking into account the application of the Ministry for Communications and Informational Society addressed to the Romanian Patriarchate to support the extension of the Internet network all over the country, we declare the following:

The Romanian Patriarchate appreciates the efforts of the public authorities for facilitating the access to Internet of a larger and larger number of Romanians, as instrument of fast information and communication typical for the society of the 21st century.

The encyclopaedic culture of the Internet and the greater possibilities of inter-activity in the network bring about opportunities of learning, exchanging the values (economical, cultural, social and religious) and exceeding the informative discrepancies among various parts of the world. This is why the initiatives of digital inclusion are implicitly part of the programmes of social inclusion.

The Church herself uses the modern means of communication, as well as Internet, in her pastoral-missionary, social-philanthropic, cultural-educational and administrative work because these ones are fast efficient instruments of work.

Yet, the virtual world of the Internet can negatively influence the inter-human relations due to the irresponsible usage of the liberty of access, through the informational pollution, possibility to control and supervise the persons, digital terrorism under the mask of anonymity, ideological manipulation and cyber-criminality. The excessive usage of the Internet brings about the danger of estrangement, isolation and parallel existence into a virtual world, with serious consequences over the social behaviour.

This is why the Church urges to balance, discernment and lucidity when using the new technology of information and communication, in order to tell good from bad and cultivate what is edifying and saving.

At the same time, we think it is the duty of the public authorities – in parallel with the development of the informational society at the level of technical infra-structure - to pay attention to the ethic and legislative framework, so that the digital literacy and usage of the Internet should be made observing the dignity and freedom of the person and encouraging communication and co-operation among peoples and nations in the spirit of the genuine values of culture and human civilisation.