Pope Francis: Social communications is for bringing others to Christ
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday addressed the participants in the Plenary
Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
Pope Francis
said the goal of the Church for its communications efforts is “to understand how
to enter into dialogue with the men and women of today in order to appreciate their
desires, their doubts and their hopes.”
The Holy Father said we must examine
if the communications of the Church are helping others to meet Christ.
“The
challenge is to rediscover, through the means of social communication as well as by
personal contact, the beauty that is at the heart of our existence and our journey,
the beauty of faith and of the encounter with Christ,” he said.
Below
is the full text of Pope Francis' remarks
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
good morning!
I greet you and I thank you for your work and commitment to the
important sector of social communications – but having spoken to Archbishop Celli,
I must change “sector” to the important “dimension of life” which is that of social
communications. I wish to thank Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli for the greeting that
he extended to me on your behalf. I would like to share some thoughts with you.
First
of all: the importance of social communications for the Church. This year is the fiftieth
anniversary of the Conciliar Decree Inter Mirifica. This anniversary is more than
a commemoration; the Decree expresses the Church’s attentiveness towards communication
and all its instruments, which are also important in the work of evangelisation. But
towards its instruments – communication is not an instrument! It’s something else.
In the last few decades, the various means of communication have evolved significantly,
but the Church’s concern remains the same, taking on new forms and expressions. The
world of social communications, more and more, has become a “living environment” for
many, a web where people communicate with each other, expanding the boundaries of
their knowledge and relationships (cf. Benedict XVI, Message for the 2013 World Communications
Day). I wish to underline these positive aspects, although we are all aware of the
limitations and harmful factors which also exist.
In this context – and this
is the second reflection – we must ask ourselves: what role should the Church have
in terms of its own practical means of communication? In every situation, beyond technological
considerations, I believe that the goal is to understand how to enter into dialogue
with the men and women of today, in order to appreciate their desires, their doubts,
and their hopes. They are men and women who sometimes feel let down by a Christianity
that to them appears sterile, struggling precisely to communicate the depth of meaning
that faith gives. We do in fact witness today, in the age of globalisation, a growing
sense of disorientation and isolation; we see, increasingly, a loss of meaning to
life, an inability to connect with a “home”, and a struggle to build meaningful relationships.
It is therefore important to know how to dialogue, and how to enter, with discernment,
into the environments created by new technologies, into social networks, in such a
way as to reveal a presence that listens, converses, and encourages. Do not be afraid
to be this presence, expressing your Christian identity as you become citizens of
this environment. A Church that follows this path learns how to walk with everybody!
And there’s also an ancient rule of the pilgrims, that Saint Ignatius includes, and
that’s why I know it! In one of his rules, he says that anyone accompanying a pilgrim
must walk at the same pace as the pilgrim, not ahead and not lagging behind. And this
is what I mean: a Church that accompanies the journey, that knows how to walk as people
walk today. This rule of the pilgrim will help us to inspire things.
The third:
it’s a challenge that we all face together in this environment of social communications,
and the problem is not principally technological. We must ask ourselves: are we capable
of bringing Christ into this area, or rather, of bringing about the encounter with
Christ? To walk with the pilgrim through life, but as Jesus walked with the pilgrims
of Emmaus, warming their hearts and leading them to the Lord? Are we capable of communicating
the face of a Church which can be a “home” to everyone? We talk about the Church behind
closed doors. But this is more than a Church with open doors, it’s more! Finding “home”
together, building “home”, building the Church. It’s this: building the Church as
we walk. A challenge! To lead to the rediscovery, through means of social communication
as well as by personal contact, of the beauty which is at the heart of our existence
and our journey, the beauty of faith, the beauty of the encounter with Christ. Even
in the context of social communications, the Church is required to bring warmth, to
warm hearts. Do our presence and plans measure up to this requirement, or do we remain
mired in technicalities? We hold a precious treasure that is to be passed on, a treasure
that brings light and hope. They are greatly needed. All this, however, requires a
careful and thorough formation in this area for priests, for religious men and women,
for laity. The great digital continent does not only involve technology, but is made
up of real men and women who bring with them what they carry inside, their hopes,
their suffering, their concerns, their pursuit of truth, beauty, and good. We need
to show and bring Christ to others, sharing these joys and hopes, like Mary, who brought
Christ to the hearts of men and women; we need to pass through the clouds of indifference
without losing our way; we need to descend into the darkest night without being overcome
and disorientated; we need to listen to the illusions of many, without being seduced;
we need to share their disappointments, without becoming despondent; to sympathise
with those whose lives are falling apart, without losing our own strength and identity
(cf. Pope Francis, Address to the Bishops of Brazil, 27 July 2013, n. 4). This is
the walk. This is the challenge.
Dear friends, the concern and the presence
of the Church in the world of social communications is important in order to dialogue
with the men and women of today and bring them to meet Christ, but the encounter with
Christ is personal. It cannot be manipulated. In these times we see a great temptation
within the Church, which is spiritual harassment: the manipulation of conscience;
a theological brainwashing which in the end leads to an encounter with Christ which
is purely nominal, not with the Live Person of Christ. In a person’s encounter with
Christ, both Christ and the person need to be involved! Not what’s wanted by the “spiritual
engineer”, who wants to manipulate people. This is the challenge. To bring about the
encounter with Christ in the full knowledge, though, that we ourselves are means of
communication, and that the fundamental problem is not the acquisition of the latest
technologies, although these are necessary to a valid, contemporary presence. It is
necessary to be absolutely clear that the God in whom we believe, who loves all men
and women intensely, wants to reveal himself through the means at our disposal, however
poor they are, because it is he who is at work, he who transforms, and he who saves
us.
Let us all pray that the Lord may warm our hearts and sustain us in the
engaging mission of bringing him to the world. I ask you for your prayers, because
this is my mission too, and I assure you of my blessing.