In 1967, on the First WORLD DAY OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS, Pope Paul VI addressed Christian community and the world by stressing the need for ‘awakening of consciences’ in the realm of social communications.
Communications in the social field have graduated to technological heights. That is where Pope Francis stresses the need for ‘speaking with the heart’ the ‘Truth in love’ (Eph.4:15.
Today we are flooded with media channels and communication outlets that are owned by business magnates, corporate houses, political parties, terrorist groups, religious fundmentalists and advertising world that push their ideology and commercial concerns into our lives. They coax us, dictate to us what to eat, how to dress, what to believe, who is our role model, and the like. The Pope instructs us that ‘We should not be afraid of proclaiming the truth, even if it is at times uncomfortable.’ That is our Christian charity of reaching out, because we feel with the heart the concerns of our fellow human beings.
In his concluding address the pope says that ours should be “A communication which puts the relationship with God and one’s neighbour, especially the neediest, at the centre and which knows how to light the fire of faith rather than preserve the ashes of a self-referential identity. A form of communication founded on humility in listening and parrhesia in speaking, which never separates truth from charity.”