The Jubilee of Communication: Pope Francis’ Inspiring Message to Journalists
Francesco met with the participants of the Jubilee of Communication: hundreds of information professionals gathered in the Paul VI Hall from different parts of the world. After the dialogue between Nobel laureate Ressa and writer McCann, the Pontiff addressed the audience, setting aside his written text and delivering a heartfelt greeting: “To communicate is to go beyond oneself. Thank you for your work, it is important. As long as it is true.” In his prepared speech, he invited everyone to tell “stories of hope.”
A Personal Touch from Pope Francis
“Thank you for what you do!” A personal, targeted word from Pope Francis to those who make a profession out of words – written, read, transmitted, shared: the information professionals. Thousands gathered in the Paul VI Hall for the Jubilee of Communication. “I have a 9-page speech in my hands. At this hour, with my stomach starting to churn, reading a 9-page speech would be torture…,” said the Pontiff, smiling at the audience who responded with applause. The same applause that greeted his early entrance, accompanied by a choir singing in Spanish: “¡Esta es la juventud del Papa!”
READ THE FULL SPEECH BY POPE FRANCIS HERE
Stepping out to Meet the Other
“Ah, did you like that?” The Pope also smiles and doesn’t miss the chance to leave a message to his guests. A message of gratitude for the important work of journalism in building the Church and society: “As long as it is true.”
“Communicating is stepping out of oneself, to give of oneself to the other, and communication is not only the act of going out but also the encounter with the other. Knowing how to communicate is great wisdom, great wisdom,” he added.
Being “True”
Francis expressed his happiness at the Jubilee of communicators, the first major event of over 35 that will mark the Holy Year. “Your work is a building work, it builds society, it builds the Church, it makes everyone move forward, as long as it is true,” said the Pope, engaging in a characteristic dialogue with a faithful, “Father, I always speak the truth.” “But are you true? Not just the things you say. But you, in your inner self, are you true?” he questioned.
“It is a great test, but to communicate what God does with the Son and the communication of God with the Son is the Holy Spirit,” he added, still speaking off the cuff.
Communicating is a divine thing
The Dialogue Between Ressa and McCann
The Pope finally blessed the entire assembly and individually greeted his guests, starting with those on the stage of the Hall, especially the prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, and then those seated in the front row. Among them, Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2021, and Irish writer Colum McCann, author of 14 bestsellers including the acclaimed Apeirogon, which tells the story of Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli and an Arab, united by the pain of losing their 10 and 13-year-old daughters, killed in different circumstances (Francis met them in April 2024). The two were protagonists just before – after a pilgrimage to the Holy Door – of an engaging moment of dialogue and discussion, moderated by Mario Calabresi, before the Pope’s arrival. This was followed by a musical performance by the renowned violinist Uto Ughi and his orchestra playing pieces by Bach and Oblivion by Astor Piazzolla, an Argentine author greatly appreciated by Jorge Mario Bergoglio. And just as the music resonated within the walls of the Hall “Nervi,” Pope Francis made his entrance.
Remembering Reporters Who Died in War
In his prepared speech delivered to the participants of the Jubilee of Communication, the Pope first remembered the “colleagues who signed their service with their own blood,” all the journalists who died during this year, which he described as one of the most “lethal” for reporters. One hundred twenty remained killed in bombings and attacks in war zones, according to the annual report of the International Federation of Journalists.
The Jubilee is celebrated at a difficult moment in human history, with the world still wounded by wars and violence, by the shedding of so much innocent blood. This is why I want to thank all communication professionals who risk their lives to seek the truth and report the horrors of war
Freeing Unjustly Jailed Journalists
The Pope also did not forget “those who are imprisoned solely for being faithful to the profession of journalist, photographer, videographer, for wanting to see with their own eyes and trying to report what they saw. There are many!” The figures were provided in a press release by Reporters Without Borders published at the end of 2024: about 500 in detention. The Pope appealed for their release:
In this Holy Year, in this Jubilee of the world of communication, I ask those who have the power to do so to release all unjustly imprisoned journalists. Let a “door” also be opened for them through which they can return to freedom, because the freedom of journalists enhances the freedom of all of us. Their freedom is freedom for each of us
Defending Freedom of the Press and Thought
Another freedom that Francis demands, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, is “freedom of the press and the expression of thought together with the fundamental right to be informed.” “Free, responsible, and correct information is a heritage of knowledge, experience, and virtue that must be preserved and promoted,” he emphasized. “Without this, we risk no longer distinguishing truth from falsehood; without this, we expose ourselves to growing prejudices and polarizations that destroy the bonds of civil coexistence and prevent the rebuilding of fraternity.”
Journalism, Vocation, and Mission
For the Pope, the journalist’s profession is more than a job: “It is a vocation and a mission.” Communicators play a fundamental role in society today: “Language, attitude, tones, can be decisive and make the difference between communication that reignites hope, creates bridges, opens doors, and communication that instead increases divisions, polarizations, and simplifications of reality.”
Yours is a peculiar responsibility. Yours is a precious task. Your tools of work are words and images. But before them, there is study and reflection, the ability to see and listen; to stand by those who are marginalized, who are neither seen nor heard, and also to revive – in the hearts of those who read, listen, watch you – the sense of good and evil and a nostalgia for the good that you tell and, by telling, witness
Courage for Change
Another concept on which Francis insists is “courage.” Courage “to initiate the change that history demands of us,” to “overcome falsehood and hatred,” to “listen with the heart, speak with the heart, preserve the wisdom of the heart, share the hope of the heart.” Along with the release of journalists, Bergoglio then asks for “the liberation of the inner strength of the heart. Of every heart.”
Let us take this opportunity of the Jubilee to renew, to find this courage. The courage to free the heart from what corrupts it. Let us place respect for the highest and noblest part of our humanity at the center of the heart, avoiding filling it with what rots and makes it rot
The Scrolling Causing “Brain Putrefaction”
The recommendation is to expel the “brain putrefaction” caused by the addiction to continuous scrolling on social media. A “disease” that particularly affects young people. For them and for everyone, the Pontiff asks for a “media literacy” that educates “to critical thinking, to the patience of discernment necessary for knowledge.” At the same time, he calls for the collaboration of courageous entrepreneurs and computer engineers so that “the beauty of communication is not corrupted.”
Great changes cannot be the result of a multitude of dormant minds, but rather they start from the communion of enlightened hearts
Telling “Stories of Hope”
One last focus, from the Pope, is on the “transformative power” of storytelling, of narrative and listening to stories. Not all “are good” but “these too must be told”: “Evil must be seen to be redeemed; but it must be told well so as not to wear out the fragile threads of coexistence,” Francis affirmed. His invitation to information professionals in this Jubilee is to tell “stories of hope” that “nourish life.” And to make storytelling also “hopetelling”: “When you tell of evil, leave room for the possibility of mending what is torn, for the dynamism of good that can repair what is broken.”
Telling hope means seeing the hidden crumbs of good even when all seems lost, it means allowing hope against all hope
