Pope Francis sees an "infodemic," says access to accurate information about the coronavirus and vaccines is a human right

Pope Francis (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Pope Francis said Friday that an “infodemic” is spreading, defining it as “a distortion of reality based on fear, falsified or invented news.”

The head of the Roman Catholic Church said information based on scientific facts is a human right, and urged Catholic journalists to help people who were misled by false reports about the coronavirus and vaccines.

“To be properly informed, to be helped to understand situations based on scientific data and not fake news, is a human right,” the pope told members of the International Catholic Media Consortium on Covid-19 Vaccines.

He added that journalists and scientists should treat with respect those who believe falsehoods, and not put them in “ghettos.” "Instead, they should try to build bridges to those who need to hear scientific truths," Gaia Pianigiani reports for The New York Times.