Pope to media: Share hope, build community, shun aggressiveness

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis urged communicators to use their platforms to inspire hope by avoiding aggressive language and rejecting rhetoric that dehumanizes others.

"I dream of a communication capable of making us fellow travelers, walking alongside our brothers and sisters and encouraging them to hope in these troubled times," the pope wrote in his message for the World Day of Communications.

The pope's message was released Jan. 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists, and the start of the Vatican celebration of the Jubilee of the World of Communications.

The Vatican and most dioceses will celebrate the World Day of Communications June 1, the Sunday before Pentecost.

Describing his dream particularly for Catholic communicators, Pope Francis said theirs should be "a communication capable of speaking to the heart, arousing not passionate reactions of defensiveness and anger, but attitudes of openness and friendship."

And with the Holy Year 2025 being focused on hope, the pope said communications should be "capable of focusing on beauty and hope even in the midst of apparently desperate situations, and generating commitment, empathy and concern for others."

A Christian form of communication, he said, "does not peddle illusions or fears, but is able to give reasons for hope."

The theme for the church's 59th celebration of World Day of Communications is "Share with gentleness the hope that is in your hearts," taken from the First Letter of St. Peter.

Pope Francis wrote that he chose the theme because modern communication is increasingly "characterized by disinformation and polarization, as a few centers of power control an unprecedented mass of data and information."

"Too often today communication generates not hope, but fear and despair, prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred," he wrote in the message. "All too often it simplifies reality in order to provoke instinctive reactions; it uses words like a razor; it even uses false or artfully distorted information to send messages designed to agitate, provoke or hurt."

In his letter, the apostle Peter tells Christians that they have an obligation to give others an account of their hope, something which the pope said is accomplished best when Christians allow "the beauty of love" to shine through their words and actions.

Pope Francis asked Catholic communicators "to discover and make known the many stories of goodness hidden in the folds of the news, imitating those gold prospectors who tirelessly sift the sand in search of a tiny nugget."

Seeking out those "seeds of hope" and sharing them, he said, "helps our world to be a little less deaf to the cry of the poor, a little less indifferent, a little less closed in on itself."

"Be witnesses and promoters of a nonaggressive communication; help to spread a culture of care, build bridges and break down the visible and invisible barriers of the present time," the pope asked Catholic media professionals.

"May you always find those glimmers of goodness that inspire us to hope," he told them. "This kind of communication can help to build communion, to make us feel less alone, to rediscover the importance of walking together."