Pope encourages storytelling on
World Communications Day
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| A bundle of fiber optic cable coming from a single source (AFP) |
As Pope Francis recalls World Communications Day, the
Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication reflects on the Church’s role in
building a new communications model founded on encounter.
By Vatican News
At the Regina Coeli prayer on Sunday, Pope Francis recalled
his message for World Communications Day on 24 May, which is dedicated to the
theme of storytelling.
The Pope prayed that this recurrence might help us tell
stories that look forward to the future with hope.
“May this event encourage us to tell and share
constructive stories that help us to understand that we are all part of a story
that is larger than ourselves, and can look forward to the future with hope if
we truly care for one another as brothers and sisters.”
Sharing a new perspective
To mark the occasion, Dr. Paolo Ruffini, the Prefect of the
Dicastery for Communication (Vatican News’ parent organization), released a
video message, and reflects on Pope Francis’ message for World Communications Day.
Dr. Ruffini says the key to the message is the “sharing” of
our own experiences, which allows us to build a new story in “a prospective of
Redemption”.
Rediscovering communion
Our recent experience of isolation and social-distancing due
to the Covid-19 lockdown, says the Prefect, has taught us to rediscover that
God provides a deeper communion to bind us.
“In our experience of separation, we have understood the
heart of communion,” he says. “Without the ability to find unity in our
experiences, there is neither wisdom nor knowledge. Everything is reduced to a
list of facts without a unifying story.”
Healthy union of good will
Dr. Ruffini says the pandemic has offered us a choice: “to
entrust ourselves only to technology or to give it a soul.”
Fake news, he adds, has also proliferated. “Everything
depends upon where we base our hope.” We have the opportunity to “respond to
the unhealthy union of the pandemic with the healthy union of good will.”
Transcendent dimension
The pandemic has also given us the chance to find the
courage to build welcoming communities founded on good forms of communication.
“Communication,” he says, “needs to be re-rooted in a
network that is both global and local, digital and real. Communication serves
to unite, not to divide; to give and not to buy or sell. We must give
technology a transcendent dimension.”
Building human relationships
Encounter, says the Prefect, provides the basis for true
communication.
We therefore need to discover ways to use the internet to
maintain “the incarnate relationship between people” while building “an economy
of sharing”. It this vision, says Dr. Ruffini, all people must be encouraged to
participate by giving their time, talents, money, and prayer.
A smile becomes a story
An outgoing Church, he says, can help “build
communion across all means of communication.”
“The time has come to think about communication as a way to
redistribute surplus goods, knowledge, and love.”
In conclusion, Dr. Ruffini says each of us “can be the smile
of those who have preceded us. Every story can be refashioned and redeemed by
sharing a smile that becomes a story.”
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