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Message of the Holy Father Francis to members of
the Catholic Press Association on the occasion
of 2020 Virtual Catholic Media Conference,
30.06.2020
The following is the message sent by the Holy
Father Francis to members of the Catholic Press
Association on the occasion of the Catholic
Media Conference, taking place from 30 June to 2
July 2020 on the theme, “Together While Apart”:
Message of the Holy Father
To the Members of the Catholic Press Association
This year, for the first time in its history,
the Catholic Press Association is hosting a
virtual Catholic Media Conference, due to the
current health situation. Before all else, I
would like to express my closeness to those who
have been affected by the virus and to those
who, even at the risk of their lives, have
worked and continue to work in assisting our
brothers and sisters in need.
The theme you have chosen for this year’s
Conference – Together While Apart – eloquently
expresses the sense of togetherness that
emerged, paradoxically, from the experience of
social distancing imposed by the pandemic. In my
Message for last year’s World Communications
Day, I reflected on how communication enables us
to be, as Saint Paul says , “members of one
another” (cf. Eph 4:25), called to live in
communion within an ever expanding network of
relationships. Because of the pandemic, all of
us have come to appreciate this truth more
fully. Indeed, the experience of these past
months has shown how essential is the mission of
the communications media for bringing people
together, shortening distances, providing
necessary information, and opening minds and
hearts to truth.
It was precisely this realisation that led to
the establishment of the first Catholic
newspapers in your country and the constant
encouragement given them by the Church’s
pastors. We see this in the case of the
Charleston Catholic Miscellany, launched in 1822
by Bishop John England and followed by so many
other newspapers and journals. Today, as much as
ever, our communities [.::] count on newspapers,
radio, TV and social media to share, to
communicate, to inform and to unite.
E pluribus unum – the ideal of unity amid
diversity, reflected in the motto of the United
States, must also inspire the service you offer
to the common good. How urgently is this needed
today, in an age marked by conflicts and
polarisation from which the Catholic community
itself is not immune. We need media capable of
building bridges, defending life and breaking
down the walls, visible and invisible, that
prevent sincere dialogue and truthful
communication between individuals and
communities. We need media that can help people,
especially the young, to distinguish good from
evil, to develop sound judgments based on a
clear and unbiased presentation of the facts,
and to understand the importance of working for
justice, social concord and respect for our
common home. We need men and women of conviction
who protect communication from all that would
distort it or bend it to other purposes.
I ask you, then, to be united and a sign of
unity among yourselves. Media can be large or
small, but in the Church these are not the
categories that count. In the Church we have all
been baptised in the one Spirit and made members
of the one body (cf. 1 Cor 12:13). As in every
body, it is often the members who are smallest
who, in the end, are those most necessary. So it
is with the body of Christ. Each of us, wherever
we find ourselves, is called to contribute,
through our profession of truth in love, to the
Church’s growth to full maturity in Christ (cf.
Eph 4:15).
Communication, we know, is not merely a matter
of professional competence. A true communicator
dedicates himself or herself completely to the
welfare of the others, at every level, from the
life of each individual to the life of the
entire human family. We cannot truly communicate
unless we become personally involved, unless we
can personally attest to the truth of the
message we convey. All communication has its
ultimate source in the life of the triune God,
who shares with us the richness of his divine
life and calls us in turn to communicate that
treasure to others by our unity in the service
of his truth.
Dear friends, I cordially invoke upon you and
the work of your Conference an outpouring of the
Holy Spirit’s gifts of wisdom, understanding and
good counsel. Only the gaze of the Spirit allows
us not to close our eyes to those who suffer and
to seek the true good of all. Only with that
gaze can we effectively work to overcome the
diseases of racism, injustice and indifference
that disfigure the face of our common family.
Through your dedication and daily work, may you
help others to contemplate situations and people
with the eyes of the Spirit. Where our world all
too readily speaks with adjectives and adverbs,
may Christian communicators speak with nouns
that acknowledge and advance the quiet claims of
truth and promote human dignity. Where the world
sees conflicts and divisions, may you look to
the suffering and the poor, and give voice to
the plea of our brothers and sisters in need of
mercy and understanding.
Yesterday the Church celebrated the Solemnity of
the Apostles Peter and Paul. May the spirit of
communion with the Bishop of Rome, which has
always been a hallmark of the Catholic press in
your countries, keep all of you united in faith
and resistant to fleeting cultural fads that
lack the fragrance of evangelical truth. Let us
continue to pray together for reconciliation and
peace in our world. I assure you of my support
and my prayers for you and your families. And I
ask you, please, to remember me in your own
prayers.
From the Vatican, 30 June 2020
FRANCIS
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