Communication

Catholic Media Conference Calls for Responsible AI Use

By Web News 800

By Oghogho Odubanjo

Catholic journalists and media professionals must be responsible in the use of Artificial Intelligence, AI for information dissemination.

Also, to avoid the consequences which could stem from fake news, fact-checking mechanisms are essential and non-negotiable.

The President of Union Catholique Africaine de la Presse, UCAP Africa, Charles Ayetan stated this at the African Catholic Conference held recently in Accra, Ghana.

Using the African concept of Ubuntu, the UCAP Africa President encouraged members of the Catholic Church to work in togetherness and also explore how the church can employ trending technologies in form of ethical AI, for the purpose of evangelism and ultimate betterment of Africa

Oghogho Odubanjo of FRCN Ibadan

In a message to the conference, the Prefect of the Dicastery of Communications. Bishop Paolo Raffini, noted that disintermediation and social media have radically transformed relations between institutions and people, hence the need for the church not to forget that it has been called to bear witness to the beauty of its own communion.

“We were to read and tell history with the intelligence of the heart, with the wisdom of love, without confusing its means and ends, truths and lies, intuitions and calculations. We should remain human”.

Addressing the participants, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Archbishop Julien Kaboré, encouraged them to resist every temptation to delegate moral responsibilities to AI.

Archbishop Kabore further outlined the limitations of AI, including the manipulation of truth, the inability to embody emotions, and the tendency to erode values.

He called on media practitioners to ensure that their works remain rooted in the dignity of humanity and the use of AI guided by moral responsibility.

Some dignitaries present at the conference were Catholic Archbishop of Accra, Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, the second Vice President of the Symposium for the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Rev. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina, Bishop Matthew Gyamfi of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, the president of the Private Newspapers and Online News Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG), Andrew Edwin Arthur, the president of SIGNIS, Father Walter Ihejirika.

The participants in their various submissions, agreed that AI as a human invention should be used for the benefit of humans, therefore editorial policies that would ensure AI tools do not replace human activities and responsibilities must be adopted.

The 2025 conference of UCAP, also known as the African Catholic Union of the Press, which occurs every three years, was organized in collaboration with the Catholic Association of Media Practitioners-Ghana (CAMP-G) between 10th and 17th August, 2025.

Over one hundred journalists from Africa attended the conference with the theme; “Balancing Technological Progress and the Preservation of Human Values in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”.

Education

Fix Rot in Education Sector, Cleric Tells Adeleke

By Web News 382

By Mojisola Oladele 

Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke has been urged to focus more on people in the grassroots by providing stable and efficient local government leadership, water, security and health facilities.

The Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Osogbo, The Most Reverend John Oyejola made the call during his courtesy visit to the Governor Adeleke at the Government House, Osogbo.

Bishop Oyejola, who explained that many schools in rural areas were not conducive for learning and teaching activities, appealed to him to urgently fix the rot in the education sector.

He also urged the Governor to return some public schools that government seized from the Church as a way of revamping the education sector in the state.

While lauding the governor for renovating Primary Health Centres in the state, the cleric urged him to provide sustainable electricity and water at the facilities.

In his remarks, Senator Adeleke said his administration was working on partnering with investors in areas of agriculture, power generation to boost the economy of Osun, noting that his government had performed so well on areas of abandoned projects by previous administrations.

The governor pointed out that his government had invested greatly on healthcare, especially in the rural areas, insisting that his administration has not borrowed a dime since inception.

Senator Adeleke, who said the request for return of schools to the Church would be put into consideration, Senator Adeleke solicited for continuous prayers of Bishop Oyejola and his entourage for him to deliver the good vision he has for Osun people.

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Foreign

Catholic Bishops Seek Urgent International Intervention in Sudan

By Web News 376

South Sudan’s Catholic bishops are calling for urgent intervention by the international community to help resolve the conflict in neighbouring Sudan and to provide humanitarian assistance to the needy people.

A letter signed by eight bishops addressed to the government of South Sudan, the international community and humanitarian agencies, called for provision of aid – both within Sudan and in South Sudan – and in other neighbouring countries which are hosting Sudanese refugees.

They said in order to reduce the suffering of the people of Sudan, the way forward is a peace process not war.

“We are deeply concerned about the regional and international components to the conflict [in Sudan]. The conflict is destabilising the region which is already fragile and weakened by internal conflicts,” the bishops said.

A joint effort by the US and Saudi Arabia to broker ceasefires has had limited success. A regional African mission to find peace has so far not made any progress.

Over 130,000 people have fled the fighting and crossed into South Sudan. Most were returning citizens but among them are 10,000 Sudanese refugees, according to a UN estimate.

Most Sudanese refugess have gone to Egypt and Chad.

BBC/Simeon Ugbodovon

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