'Among the wonderful' in Latin), subtitled "Decree on the Media of Social Communication", is one of the Second Vatican Council's 16 magisterial documents.
The final draft, reduced to a quarter of its original length, which contains an introductory section, two short chapters and a conclusion.
[20] The document was heavily criticized for falling short of expectations, as well as failing to provide any new or different thoughts or instructions on social communications.
[21] At the close of the council, in a brief assessment of the documents it had produced, the New York Times said this text had been "generally condemned as inadequate and too conservative".
[28] In 2005, John Paul II wrote his final apostolic letter, The Rapid Development, on the topic of social communications[29] In his message "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word" to priests for the 44th World Communications Day (16 May 2010), Pope Benedict XVI called for them to become digital citizens and engage with the information society, saying, "Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.... Who better than a priest, as a man of God, can develop and put into practice, by his competence in current digital technology, a pastoral outreach capable of making God concretely present in today's world and presenting the religious wisdom of the past as a treasure which can inspire our efforts to live in the present with dignity while building a better future?