Pope appeals to communicators to assist peacemakers by disarming words

ROME (CNS) — People in the world of news and communications need to understand the full importance of words, Pope Francis wrote.

While war offers no solutions to today’s conflicts, peacemakers need new vitality and credibility, and they should be assisted by people in communications, he said in a letter to Luciano Fontana, editor-in-chief of Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily.

“There is a great need for reflection, calmness and an awareness of complexity” when it comes to working for peace, fraternity and justice, which requires “commitment, work, silence and words,” he wrote.

The newspaper published the typewritten letter March 18; it was signed by the pope and dated March 14 from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where the pope has been recovering from respiratory difficulty and infections since Feb. 14. Vatican News also published the text the same day.

Fontana had sent the pope a message expressing his closeness and good wishes for his health, according to Corriere della Sera. He also asked the pope if he had any words or appeals to make to the international community and people experiencing war given the important, “serious and delicate” events unfolding in the world.

The pope replied, thanking the editor for his sentiments and noting how “war appears even more absurd” when one is experiencing illness.

“Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills,” the pope wrote. “Perhaps for this reason, we so often tend to deny limits and avoid fragile and wounded people: they have the power to question the direction we have chosen, both as individuals and as a community.”

He encouraged the newspaper and “all those who dedicate their work and intelligence to informing through communication tools that now connect our world in real time to feel the full importance of words.”

“They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments. They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends,” he wrote. “We must disarm words to disarm minds and disarm the Earth” and facilitate reflection, calm and deeper awareness of how complex reality is.

“While war only devastates communities and the environment, without offering solutions to conflicts, diplomacy and international organizations are in need of new vitality and credibility,” the pope’s letter said. “Religions, moreover, can draw from the spirituality of the people to rekindle the desire for fraternity and justice, the hope for peace.”

“All this requires commitment, work, silence and words,” he wrote. “Let us feel united in this effort, which heavenly grace will continue to inspire and accompany.”