Pope Francis prevents the Church to communicate looking for “self -promotion”

Pope Francis prevailed to the Church to communicate seeking the “self -romotion” and asked to go “beyond prejudices” to cure fanaticism in his speech before those responsible for the communication offices of all the dioceses that this weekend participated in The jubilee of communications.

“Instead of trusting the sterile sirens of self -promotion, in the celebration of our initiatives, let’s think about how to build together the stories of our hope,” said the Holy Father.

Before almost two hundred and fifty bishops, presidents of the Episcopal Commissions for Communication, as well as dozens of directors of the different offices dedicated to this area of ​​all episcopal conferences, he called to convey “beauty” of hope to save the world “of the Sea of ​​despair and misinformation ”.

However, he said that “evil exists” and “we must not hide it”, but must “move, generate questions and answers.”

In their speech pronounced in the Clementina Room, Pope Francis urged them to reflect on “the concrete way” in which he communicates and how “hope in the midst of so much despair” can be sown.

Thus, he urged them to think about how the “division virus” is heals, and the church is communicated only according to “the rules of corporate marketing.”

“Christian communication is to show that the kingdom of God is close: here, now and is like a miracle that can be experienced by each person, for each people,” he emphasized.

For the pontiff this “miracle” must be counted by offering “the keys to look beyond the banal, beyond evil, beyond prejudices, beyond stereotypes, beyond oneself.”

All those present at the meeting at the Vatican participate from Monday, January 27 and until Wednesday 29 at the International Congress of Catholic Institutional Communicators in the framework of the Jubilee of Communication.

Pope Francis also raised a series of questions so that later they could do an examination of awareness about the way in which they communicate the message of the Catholic Church: “Do we know how to testify that human history does not conclude in a dead end ? And how do we indicate a different perspective towards a future that is not yet written? I like this expression: write the future; It is up to us to write the future. ”

“The Kingdom of God – he explained – comes in the attention we dedicated to others, in the attentive care we put when reading reality. It also comes in the ability to see and sow a hope of good; and to overcome, thus, desperate fanaticism. ”

Similarly, he stressed his idea of ​​what institutional communication for the Catholic Church must be, which is also the “vocation of everything baptized.”

“Communicating, for us, is not a tactic, it is not a technique. It is not to repeat phrases made or slogans, nor just write press releases. Communicating is an act of love. Just an act of free love weaves good networks, ”he said.

He also reflected on the possibilities offered by new technologies for communication professionals, although he called “not to turn technology into an idol.” “I confess to them one thing: I am worried, more than artificial intelligence, natural intelligence, which we have to develop,” he slid.

On the other hand, he warned that Catholic communication should not be “something separate” conceived “only for Catholics.”

“It is not an enclosure in which to lock ourselves, a sect to speak between us, no! Catholic communication is the open space of a testimony that knows how to listen and interpret the signs of the kingdom, ”he concluded.