The Call to Action for a Better World: Maria Ressa’s Address at the Vatican
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Maria Ressa, delivered a powerful speech at the Jubilee of the World of Communications on Saturday, January 25, 2025. In her address, she emphasized the importance of taking action in a world that is undergoing profound transformation.
Maria A. Ressa
HOPE COMES FROM ACTION
As Maria Ressa took the stage at this sacred space, she spoke about the significance of this Jubilee as a time of grace, reflection, and recommitment to the values that unite us as a global community. She highlighted the current challenges we face, likening the impact of technology on our society to an atomic bomb exploding in our information ecosystem.
Ressa drew attention to the manipulation of technology for power and money, resulting in the erosion of trust, the spread of misinformation, and the targeting of journalists. She shared her personal experiences of being targeted by hate messages and unjustly arrested for her work as a journalist.
She spoke about the dangerous transformation of social media into a weapon of mass behavioral engineering, driven by algorithms that exploit our vulnerabilities and amplify divisions. Ressa emphasized the need for facts, truth, and trust to maintain a shared reality and address critical issues like climate change.
Addressing the harmful impact of Big Tech’s business model, Ressa called for a public tech stack that prioritizes genuine conversations and resists manipulation for profit. She stressed the importance of collaboration, speaking truth with moral clarity, protecting the vulnerable, and recognizing individual power in creating positive change.
Despite the challenges we face, Ressa reminded the audience that hope is not passive but active and strategic. Drawing on the wisdom of faith traditions, she encouraged a collective effort to heal divides and build a better world.
As she concluded her address, Maria Ressa left the audience with a powerful message: the choices we make today will shape our future and determine how we look back on our past. She urged everyone present to imagine the impact of working together to stem the tide of division and heal our world.
