Catholic communication must engage with the world, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Church communications cannot exist in an “enclosure” in which Catholics merely talk among themselves and do not engage with the outside world, Pope Francis said.

“Catholic communication is the open space of a witness that knows how to listen and intercept the signs of the kingdom,” the pope said Jan. 27 during a meeting with the presidents of bishops’ communications committees and the directors of communications for bishops’ conferences.

The true power of communications, he said, lies in building connections and crafting “narratives of our hope,” rather than focusing on “self-promotion” or “the celebration of our own initiatives.”

“Our network is the voice of a church that only by coming out of itself finds itself and the reasons for its hope,” Pope Francis said. “The church must come out of itself.”

The gathering followed a weekend of events for the Jubilee of the World of Communications, which included an audience with Pope Francis and a papal Mass on the Sunday of the Word of God.

Meeting the officials of the bishops’ conferences, the pope said that Christian communication “conveys harmony” and should offer an alternative to the disorder of modern communication, which he likened to “new towers of Babel” where “everyone is talking, and they don’t understand each other.”

Pope Francis urged Christians to develop “a different model of communication, different in spirit, different in creativity, in the poetic power that comes from the Gospel and which is inexhaustible.”

“Every Christian is called to see and tell the stories of good that bad journalism claims to erase by giving space only to evil,” he said, urging communicators not to hide or deny evil but involve all people and forms of communication to ensure problems spark dialogue and a search for solutions.

The Holy Year, he said, is a good time for church communicators to make an “examination of conscience.”

“Let us ask ourselves then: How do we sow hope in the midst of so much despair that touches and challenges us? How do we cure the virus of division, which also threatens our communities? Is our communication accompanied by prayer? Or do we end up communicating the church by adopting only the rules of corporate marketing? We need to ask ourselves all these questions,” he said.

“Communicating, for us, is not a tactic, not a technique. It is not repeating catchphrases or slogans, nor is it merely writing press releases,” he said. “Communicating is an act of love,” which involves engaging all people and sowing hope among them.

Drawing on the biblical image of fishing nets, Pope Francis highlighted the need for communicators to create networks of solidarity, likening their work to that of fishermen who cast their nets for the good of all.

To create a net is to “network skills, knowledge and contributions so that we can inform properly and thus all be rescued from the sea of despair and misinformation,” the pope said.

That objective can be advanced through new digital tools, such as artificial intelligence, “if instead of turning technology into an idol we were to put more effort into creating networks.”

“Only together can we communicate the beauty we have encountered: not because we are skilled, not because we have more resources, but because we love one another,” he said.

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