The Face of Mercy / Daniel Conway

Pope Francis prays for integrity in communications

(En Espanol)

In his message for the 55th World Day of Communications on Jan. 24, Pope Francis combined praise “for the courage of journalists, camera operators, editors, directors—who often risk their lives in carrying out their work” with a stern warning about the dangers of online communications where “the risk of misinformation being spread on social media has become evident to everyone. We have known for some time that news and even images can be easily manipulated, for any number of reasons, at times simply for sheer narcissism.”

Thanks to the efforts of many communications professionals, “we now know, for example, about the hardships endured by persecuted minorities in various parts of the world, numerous cases of oppression and injustice inflicted on the poor and on the environment, and many wars that otherwise would be overlooked.”

The pope observed that “it would be a loss not only for news reporting, but for society and for democracy as a whole, were those voices to fade away. Our entire human family would be impoverished.”

At the same time, the Holy Father insisted that “nothing replaces seeing things at first hand.”

Our reliance on the various news and entertainment media (especially social media) to keep us informed, shape our opinions and influence the way we act has some disturbing implications.

“In communications, nothing can ever completely replace seeing things in person,” the pope said. “Some things can only be learned through firsthand experience. We do not communicate merely with words, but with our eyes, the tone of our voice and our gestures.”

By relying on printed reports and electronic images prepared for us by third parties, we risk giving ourselves over to those who do not value our individual best interests or the common good. “We think of how much empty rhetoric abounds, even in our time, in all areas of public life, in business as well as politics,” the pope said.

To counteract the negative effects of “fake news” regardless of its sources, Pope Francis called attention to the preaching of Jesus. “Jesus’ attractiveness to those who met him depended on the truth of his preaching,” the pope said. “Yet the effectiveness of what he said was inseparable from how he looked at others, from how he acted toward them, and even from his silence. The disciples not only listened to his words; they watched him speak. Indeed in him—the incarnate Logos—the Word took on a face; the invisible God let himself be seen, heard and touched, as John himself tells us [1 Jn 1:1-3]. The word is effective only if it is ‘seen,’ only if it engages us in experience, in dialogue.”

For Pope Francis, truly effective communications require that the reader or viewer be actively engaged, and not simply passive, in what is being reported or viewed in the media. This necessarily involves “encounter” and genuine dialogue. It means being open to differing points of view while never sacrificing fundamental principles.

“We have books in our hands, but the facts before our eyes,” said

St. Augustine in speaking of fulfillment of the prophecies found in sacred Scripture. So too, the Gospel comes alive in our own day, whenever we accept the compelling witness of people whose lives have been changed by their encounter with Jesus.

For two millennia, a chain of such encounters has communicated the attractiveness of the Christian adventure. The challenge that awaits us, then, is to communicate by encountering people, where they are and as they are.

To “accept the compelling witness of others” does not mean passive acceptance. It means letting the words and example of Jesus guide us as we seek to discover the truth “in all areas of [personal and] public life, in business as well as politics,” the pontiff said.

Pope Francis concluded his message with a very powerful prayer. Let’s paste these words on our computer and television screens. Let’s bear them in mind always:

Lord, teach us to move beyond ourselves, and to set out in search of truth. 

Teach us to go out and see, teach us to listen, not to entertain prejudices or draw hasty conclusions.

Teach us to go where no one else will go, to take the time needed to understand, to pay attention to the essentials, not to be distracted by the superfluous, to distinguish deceptive appearances from the truth.

Grant us the grace to recognize your dwelling places in our world and the honesty needed to tell others what we have seen.
 

(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †