ENCOUNTER: JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LIFE AND RELIGION

It is of historic importance that of the 16 major documents of the Second Vatican Council, the first two to be issued were the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and the Decree on the Instruments of Social Communication. That was on 4 December, 1963, at the conclusion of the Second Session of that great Council. The Decree in question, Inter Mirifica, has importance, not so much because of its content, but because it is the first time that a General Council of the universal Church addressed the topic of communications and gave a mandate to clergy and laity on the use of the communications media. While this Council document does not state novel positions, it nevertheless collects and states a number of directives earlier given at less official levels. The development of what is today the Dicastery for Communication at the level of the Holy See is one proof of th

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