The Pope: no to photocopied information without wearing out the soles of your shoes

Debora Donnini – Vatican City

The call to “come and see” is also “the method of all authentic human communication”. This is the heart of Pope Francis’ message on the occasion of the 55th World Communication Day on the theme “Come and see” (Jn 1,46). Communicate by finding people where and how they are ”, published today, on the eve of the memory of Saint Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists.

“Come and see”, this is how the Christian faith communicates

The Message of the day therefore contains this invitation that Philippe addresses to Nathanaël – “Come and see”, as the passage from the Gospel of John tells which inspires the theme – which does not consist in offering reasoning, but “knowledge”. direct “. “For more than two thousand years – underlines the Pope – it is a chain of meetings which communicates the fascination of the Christian adventure”. On the other hand, “in communication, nothing can completely replace the vision in person”. For each “communicative expression” which wants to be honest, the Pope therefore proposes the invitation to “come and see” the current communicative galaxy, from the newspapers to the web, but also the “ordinary preaching of the Church”, as well as “political communication. or social ”.

Apart from the presumption of “already known”

In his speech, the dynamic of leaving with passion and curiosity weighs heavily, to get out of “the comfortable presumption of the” already known “. As for the current time, the Pope warns against the risk of being overwhelmed by “photocopied newspapers” or “by much the same news and web pages”, where investigations are losing space in favor of “information prepackaged and “palate” ”. Esta información, recuerda, “es cada vez menos capaz de interceptar la verdad de las cosas y la vida concreta de las personas, y ya no es capaz de captar ni los fenómenos sociales más graves ni las energías positivas que se liberan desde de base de the society”. For Francisco, therefore, “the publishing crisis risks leading to the construction of information in the editorial offices, in front of the computer”, “without” wearing out the soles of your shoes “”.

Traps and opportunities of the web

The web with social networks can thus multiply the capacity and speed of news dissemination – for example, for emergencies in the first communication services to populations – and thus be “a formidable tool”. “Everyone,” says the Pope, “can become a witness to events that would otherwise be overlooked by mainstream media” and bring out “other stories, even positive ones”. On the other hand, there is a risk of social communication “without verification”. Therefore, we should not demonize the tool, but have a greater capacity for discernment, taking responsibility when it comes to disseminating content.

Pandemic and double counting

The horizon of the pandemic, which has spread around the world since the start of 2020, decisively marks this Message. The Pope warns that there is a risk of recounting it, like all crises, “only in the eyes of the richest world”, of keeping “double accounting”. Francisco’s thinking is oriented, in this direction, on the question of vaccines and medical care, on the risk of exclusion of the poorest populations. “Who will speak to us – he asks – of the hope for recovery of the poorest peoples of Asia, Latin America and Africa?” It is a danger that also affects the “world of the lucky ones”, where “the social drama of families who fell quickly into poverty remains largely hidden”. Thus, economic differences risk marking the order of distribution of the Covid vaccine, with the poor always in last position and “in principle, the right to health affirmed” but “emptied of its real value”.

Thank you to the journalists who report the forgotten wars

From the heart of the Pope comes gratitude for the courage of so many communicators. It is thanks to journalists, cameramen, editors, who often take risks in their work, “so today”, he said, “we know, for example, the difficult situation of persecuted minorities in various parts of the country. world; if they denounced numerous abuses and injustices against the poor and against creation; many forgotten wars have been denounced. “It would be an impoverishment, he stresses, if these voices were lost.