ISTANBUL 

Pope Leo XIV reiterated Monday the media’s duty to show the reality of war from a human perspective so that it does not turn into a “video game.”

Addressing Italian journalists, he stressed that the media's job is "to show the suffering that war always brings to populations, to show the face of war, and to tell it through the eyes of the victims so that it does not turn into a video game," according to Vatican News.

“Always, but especially in the dramatic circumstances of war such as those we are experiencing, information must guard against the risk of turning into propaganda," the Pope noted.

He underscored that journalists' task of verifying news in times of conflict "so as not to become a megaphone for power, becomes even more urgent and delicate—and indeed, essential."

The pontiff also stressed the importance of transparency in the media, discouraging attempts to confirm only one's own perspective.

“We all know how difficult it is to let ourselves be surprised by facts, encounters, the perspectives, and the voices of others; how strong the temptation is to seek out, see, and listen only to what confirms our own opinions,” he added.