Pope calls for more “heart”, in his message for World Communications Day

In a world that is inclined towards indifference, media and those in communications should use their heart to seek and speak with charity in order to make way for a better world, Pope Francis said in his message for World Communications Day.

Feb 03, 2023

St Francis de Sales


By Ivan Fernandes
In a world that is inclined towards indifference, media and those in communications should use their heart to seek and speak with charity in order to make way for a better world, Pope Francis said in his message for World Communications Day.

“I would like to focus on ‘speaking with the heart’. It is the heart that spurs us to go, to see and to listen, and it is the heart that moves us towards an open and welcoming way of communicating,” the Pope wrote.

While the message is mainly for those working in communications, the Pope says everyone has the responsibility to communicate “with an open heart. Only by listening and speaking with a pure heart can we see beyond appearances and overcome the vague din which, also in the field of information, does not help us discern in the complicated world in which we live,” Francis said, pointing out that “The call to speak with the heart radically challenges the times in which we are living, which are so inclined towards indifference and indignation, at times even on the basis of disinformation which falsifies and exploits the truth.”

Speak with the heart: Veritatem facientes in caritate (Doing the truth in charity) is the theme of this year’s World Communications Day, which is traditionally observed the Sunday before Pentecost, and this year falls on May 21. The message was released January 24, the feast of St Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists.

To seek and tell the truth with courage and freedom
In this year’s message, the Pope invites us to reflect on the need for words capable of doing good for others and of touching even the “most hardened of hearts. In a historical period marked by polarisations and contrasts — to which unfortunately not even the ecclesial community is immune — the commitment to communicating with open heart and arms does not pertain exclusively to those in the field of communications; it is everyone’s responsibility,” the Pope said. Hence, “communicating in a cordial manner means that those who read or listen to us are led to welcome our participation in the joys, fears, hopes and suffering of the women and men of our time. Those who speak in this way love the other because they care and protect their freedom without violating it,” he said.

Pope Francis in his message praised St Francis de Sales, for offering communicators a worthwhile example. “A brilliant intellectual, fruitful writer and profound theologian… his meek attitude, humanity and willingness to dialogue patiently with everyone, especially with those who disagreed with him, made him an extraordinary witness of God’s merciful love,” the Pope said. “May people who work in communications feel inspired by this saint of tenderness, seeking and telling the truth with courage and freedom and rejecting the temptation to use sensational and combative expressions,” he said.

“This is why all belligerent rhetoric must be rejected, as well as every form of propaganda that manipulates the truth, disfiguring it for ideological ends. Instead, what must be promoted is a form of communication that helps create the conditions to resolve controversies between peoples,” Francis said.

“As Christians, we know that the destiny of peace is decided by conversion of hearts, since the virus of war comes from within the human heart. From the heart come the right words to dispel the shadows of a closed and divided world and to build a civilisation which is better than the one we have received. Each of us is asked to engage in this effort, but it is one that especially appeals to the sense of responsibility of those working in the field of communications,” he said. -- LCI (https:// international. la-croix.com/)

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