Source: intermirifica50.va
Theme
for 2014 World Communication Day Message
The
capacity to communicate is at the heart of what it means to be human. It is in
and through our communication that we are able to meet and encounter at a
meaningful level other people, express who we are, what we think and believe,
how we wish to live and, perhaps more importantly, to come to know those with
whom we are called to live. Such communication calls for honesty, mutual
respect and a commitment to learn from each other.
It
requires a capacity to know how to dialogue respectfully with the truth of
others. It is often what might be perceived initially as ‘difference’ in the
other that reveals the richness of our humanity. It is the discovery of the
other that enables us to learn the truth of who we are ourselves.
In our
modern era, a new culture is developing advanced by technology, and
communication is in a sense “amplified” and “continuous”. We are called 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 journey, the beauty of faith
and of the beauty of the encounter with Christ.” (Address of Pope Francis
to participants at the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications, 21 September 2013). In this context, each one of us should
accept the challenge to be authentic by witnessing to values, Christian
identity, cultural experiences, expressed with a new language and shared with
others.
Our
ability to communicate, reflected in our participation in the creative,
communicative and unifying Trinitarian Love, is a gift which allows us to grow
in personal relationships, which are a blessing in our lives, and to find in
dialogue a response to those divisions that create tensions within communities
and between nations.
The
age of globalization is making communication possible even in the most remote
parts of the world, but it is also important “to use modern technologies and
social networks in such a way as to reveal a presence that listens, converses
and encourages.” (Address of Pope Francis to participants at the Plenary
Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, 21 September
2013), so that nobody is excluded.
The
Message for World Communications Day 2014 will explore the potential of
communication, especially in a networked and connected world, to bring people
closer to each other and to co-operate in the task of building a more just
world.
World
Communications Day, the only worldwide celebration called for by the Second
Vatican Council (“Inter Mirifica”, 1963), is celebrated in most
countries, on the recommendation of the bishops of the world, on the Sunday
before Pentecost (June 1st in
2014).
The
Holy Father’s message for World Communications Day is traditionally published
in conjunction with the Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, patron of writers
(January 24).
