Catholic communicators must help people overcome divisions, pope says

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A television or radio network that calls itself Catholic must help people overcome their prejudices, seek the truth with charity and build bridges between people, Pope Francis said.

Meeting Jan. 29 with employees of TV2000 and InBlu2000, the television and radio networks owned by the Italian bishops' conference, the pope asked them to be worthy guests in the homes of the thousands of people who tune in each day for news, entertainment or information.

"Continue to create networks, to weave bonds, to recount the beautiful and the good about our communities," he said, asking them to make special efforts to involve people who often are ignored, "making protagonists of those who usually end up as extras or are not even taken into consideration."

Mastering certain technologies may be part of a communicator's job, the pope said, but drawing close to people is what communication is really about.

To communicate involves making space for the other person, the pope said, and listening with the goal of "freeing ourselves from the chains of prejudice (and) speaking the truth without separating it from charity."

Pope Francis noted that the word "courage" comes from the Latin "cor," which means "heart."

"Those who have heart also have the courage to be alternative, but without becoming argumentative or aggressive; to be credible, without having the pretension of imposing their point of view; and to be bridge builders," the pope said.

As professional communicators and as Catholics, he said, each employee "must do his or her part to ensure that every form of communication is objective, respectful of human dignity and attentive to the common good. In this way, we can mend fractures and transform indifference into acceptance and relationship."

The "vocation" of Catholic communicators, he said, is to be "messengers who inform with respect and with competence, countering divisions and discord, and always remembering that at the center of every service, every article, every program is the person."