We publish an extract of the speech of the director of our site at the International Forum on Peace organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio, which was held on 23 September 2024 in Paris
by Stefano Stimamiglio
Participating in the International Peace Forum organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio was an experience that shook me deeply. The theme of the value of human life, today so threatened by global and local dynamics, has raised a reflection in me that I cannot ignore. We live in a world where technological progress and economic well-being should have improved the human condition, yet we daily witness signs of a disturbing devaluation of life itself.
As a believer and director of Famiglia Cristiana, I feel obliged to question myself and invite reflection: why does human life seem to be worth less and less? Why are we getting used to a world in which people’s lives, especially the most vulnerable categories, are treated as a burden, as something expendable? This question ran through the entire forum debate, fueled by authoritative and passionate interventions that brought out a complex reality that was difficult to accept.
Pope Francis, in his denunciations of the “throwaway culture”, has often insisted on how this trend is profoundly influencing our way of living and relating to others. It is a culture that is based on an economy that favors profit above all else, relegating to the margins those who are not productive or useful to the system. The elderly, the disabled, the poor, immigrants: these are the categories of people who, in the eyes of an increasingly cynical society, seem to no longer have the right to exist. They are considered a cost, a burden to bear, and not human beings endowed with inviolable dignity.
The forum highlighted how this throwaway culture does not only concern the economic sphere. Even politics, with its often aggressive and dehumanizing rhetoric, contributes to creating a climate of indifference towards human life. Political leaders, in many cases, use language that simplifies and trivializes the complexity of people, reducing human beings to instruments in the hands of power. When we get used to hearing speeches that treat people’s lives as a means to obtain consensus or to achieve power objectives, we inevitably lose sight of the intrinsic value of life itself.
In this context, I was very struck by a reflection that emerged during one of the interventions: the media, today more than ever, play a fundamental role in shaping the perception of human life. We are immersed in a constant flow of news, images and videos that quickly scroll across our screens. Human tragedies become a spectacle to be consumed quickly, without time to reflect, to feel empathy, to react. Social platforms, with their logic of immediate gratification, encourage superficiality and promote sensationalist content that dehumanizes the people involved in tragic events.
What we see every day on social media is a continuous flow of suffering and violence, which, in the long run, anesthetizes us. Our ability to feel empathy, to be moved by the pain of others, seems to be progressively reduced. This phenomenon, which we could define as “emotional desensitization”, is one of the most worrying effects of the reckless use of digital media. Every violent image, every tragedy shared on social media risks losing its impact, becoming just another piece of news among many.
I cannot help but reflect on how great the responsibility of those who, like me, work in the world of information is. Every day we are called to talk about the world around us, to give voice to suffering and injustices, to denounce the distortions of the system. But we are also called to do it in an ethical way, respectful of the dignity of every person. It is easy to fall into the trap of sensationalism, but we must resist, we must fight for information that does not dehumanize, that does not reduce people to mere tools for audience building.
In this, Pope Francis offered us valuable guidelines in his Messages for the World Communications Day. One of the messages that struck me most was “Speaking from the heart”, where the Pope invites us to communicate with empathy, putting the human being at the centre. This is an invitation that we, as Christians and as communicators, must welcome every day. We cannot allow human life to become an object of consumption, a product to be sold through sensational headlines or shocking images.
During the forum, one of the most discussed aspects was the role of social media algorithms. These systems, designed to maximize user engagement, often promote content that reinforces pre-existing beliefs or that arouses strong emotions, such as anger or indignation. In this way, a culture of polarization and hatred is fueled, which further contributes to the devaluation of human life. When we see racist or violent comments proliferate on social media, we must ask ourselves: what is the price of all this? What impact does it have on our ability to see the other as a person, and not as an enemy or adversary?
The forum also addressed the topic of “normalization of pain and violence”. When we see images of wars, accidents or human tragedies every day, these situations appear almost normal to us. Violence becomes part of our daily landscape, and our ability to be indignant, to react, is progressively eroded. It is a phenomenon that we must fight with all our strength, because the risk is that human life will be reduced to a mere statistical fact, to one number among many.
At the end of the forum, I felt a renewed sense of responsibility within me. As believers, we are called to defend the value of human life, to fight against every form of indifference, dehumanization, exploitation. But we are also called to do it through communication that is respectful, which puts the person at the center and not profit. In this sense, the Church’s message is more relevant than ever: “Speaking from the heart”, as Pope Francis urges us, means promoting communication that respects the dignity of every person, which enhances empathy and solidarity.
I hope that events like the Sant’Egidio Forum can help raise awareness of more and more people on these crucial issues. Human life has immeasurable value, and we must defend it in all circumstances, against any attempt to commodify it or reduce it to an instrument in the hands of power. Only in this way will we be able to build a more just, more humane society, closer to the message of love and respect that the Gospel teaches us.
