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    05.21.2023 | World Communications Day

    MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR THE 57th WORLD DAY OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS.  (May 21, 2023)

     

    Speaking with the heart “The truth in love” (Eph 4:15).

     

     

    This is the message for the 57th world day of social communications, from Pope Francis: “I would like to focus on “speaking with the heart”. It is the heart that spurred us to go, to see and to listen, and it is the heart that moves us towards an open and welcoming way of communicating. Once we have practised listening, which demands waiting and patience, as well as foregoing the assertion of our point of view in a prejudicial way, we can enter into the dynamic of dialogue and sharing, which is precisely that of communicating in a cordial way. After listening to the other with a pure heart, we will also be able to speak following the truth in love (cf. Eph 4:15). 

     

    Jesus warns us that every tree is known by its fruit (cf. Lk 6:44): “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (v. 45).  Therefore, in order to communicate by witnessing the truth in love, one must purify one's own heart. Listening and speaking with a pure heart, one can see beyond appearances, overcome the ambiguous rumour that, even in the field of information, does not help us to discern the complexity of the world. The call to speak from the heart radically challenges today's times, so prone to indifference and indignation, sometimes even based on misinformation.

     

    Communicating cordially

     

    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 our time. Those who speak in this way love the other because they care and protect their freedom without violating it. We can see this style in the mysterious wayfarer who dialogues with the disciples headed to Emmaus. The Risen Jesus speaks to them with the heart, accompanying the journey of their suffering with respect. 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. Sometimes friendly conversations can open a breach even in the most hardened of hearts. We experience this in society, where kindness is not only a question of “etiquette” but a genuine antidote to cruelty, which unfortunately can poison hearts and make relationships toxic. We need it in the field of media, so that communication does not foment acrimony that exasperates, creates rage and leads to clashes, but helps people peacefully reflect and interpret with a critical yet always respectful spirit, the reality in which they live.

     

    Communicating heart to heart: “In order to speak well, it is enough to love well”

     

    Brasil - grupo de comunicação
    Brasil - Grupo de Comunicação 

     

    One of the brightest and still fascinating examples of “speaking with the heart” is offered by Saint Francis de Sales. A brilliant intellectual, fruitful writer and profound theologian, Francis de Sales was Bishop of Geneva at the beginning of the XVII century during difficult years marked by heated disputes with Calvinists. 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. One could say about him: “A pleasant voice multiplies friends, and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies” (Sir 6:5). Saint Francis de Sales, precisely “in the heart and through the heart, there comes about a subtle, intense and unifying process in which we come to know God”.

     

    It is from this “criterion of love” that, through his writings and witness of life, the saintly Bishop of Geneva reminds us that “we are what we communicate”. This goes against the grain today, at a time when — as we experience especially on social media. communication is often exploited so that the world may see us as we would like to be and not as we are. This saint of tenderness, seeking and telling the truth with courage and freedom and rejecting the temptation to use sensational and combative expressions.

     

    Speaking with the heart in the synodal process

     

    The Pope also emphasised, “In the Church, too, there is a great need to listen to and to hear one another. It is the most precious and life-giving gift we can offer each other”. Listening without prejudice, attentively and openly, gives rise to speaking according to God’s style, nurtured by closeness, compassion and tenderness.

     

    I dream of an ecclesial communication that knows how to let itself be guided by the Holy Spirit, gentle and at the same time, prophetic, that knows how to find new ways and means for the wonderful proclamation it is called to deliver in the third millennium. A communication which puts the relationship with God and one’s neighbour, especially the neediest, at the centre and which knows how to light the fire of faith rather than preserve the ashes of a self-referential identity. A form of communication founded on humility in listening and parrhesia in speaking, which never separates truth from charity.

     

    Disarming souls by promoting a language of peace

     

    Brasil  - Grupo de Comunicação
    ICC - Comissão Internacional de Comunicação 

     

    In the dramatic context of the global conflict we are experiencing, it is urgent to maintain a form of communication that is not hostile. It is necessary to overcome the tendency to “discredit and insult opponents from the outset [rather] than to open a respectful dialogue”. We need communicators who are open to dialogue, engaged in promoting integral disarmament and committed to undoing the belligerent psychosis that nests in our hearts. At all levels, communication should be promoted to help create the conditions for resolving disputes between peoples. As Christians, we know that the destiny of peace is decided by conversion of hearts

     

    May the Lord Jesus, the pure Word poured out from the heart of the Father, help us to make our communication clear, open and heartfelt.  May the Lord Jesus, the Word made flesh, help us listen to the beating of hearts, to rediscover ourselves as brothers and sisters, and to disarm the hostility that divides. May the Lord Jesus, the Word of truth and love, help us speak the truth in charity, so that we may feel like protectors of one another.

     

    Rome, Saint John Lateran, 24 January 2023, Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales.
     FRANCISCUS

     

    (Synthesis done by Sr. Leni Menegat – Communication Group)

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