Propagating the faith

The term propaganda originally comes from The Congregatio de propaganda fide or “Congregation for propagating the faith” created by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. The group’s aim was to increase Catholic missionary activity. Propaganda today is associated more with political activity and often has a negative connotation: “Don’t believe the propaganda.” But like all speech, how you judge it it depends on the message.

In the current war in Ukraine some propaganda posters have popped up on social media that are being used to reinforce a sense of hope for Ukrainians and to encourage active defiance of the Russian invasion. Some are quite striking and we highlighted some in the post Ukraine war propaganda posters on Vintagraph.