On December 4, 1963, during the second session of the Second Vatican Council, the fathers voted 1,960 to 164 on the document Inter Mirifica. It received more disapproving votes than any other document of the council – even more than its controversial cousin Dignitatis Humanae.
The document discussed how to use media well and sought to provide a framework for the Church as humanity entered the information age.
Unfortunately, despite the ubiquity of communication technology and its obvious power to shape human society, the Church has largely forgotten what she wrote in Inter Mirifica. The way the institutional Catholic Church actually uses social media does not reflect what that document says. That must change.
