(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis marked World Communications Day with a Message and with words of encouragement to Catholic communicators during his Regina coeli remarks.
He also used his Twitter and Instagram accounts to spread the word, which he composed by hand and photographed digitally for worldwide sharing.
The text of the Holy Father’s handwritten note says, ” To you, who from the great digital community, ask for my prayers and blessing, I wish to say that you will be the precious gift in my prayer to the Father. And you, don’t forget to pray for me so that I may be a servant of the Gospel of Mercy.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Regina coeli with pilgrims and tourists gathered under a hazy Roman sky in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, the 7 th Sunday of Easter and in many countries – including Italy – the day on which the Church marks the Ascension of Our Lord.
“Before parting from his friends,” said Pope Francis, “Jesus, referring to the event of his death and resurrection, told them, ‘You are my witnesses’: that is, the disciples, the Apostles are witnesses of the death and resurrection of Christ, on that day, even at the Ascension of Christ.”
The Holy Father went on to say, “In fact, after seeing their Lord ascending into heaven, the disciples returned to the city as witnesses who joyfully announced to everyone the new life that comes from the Risen Christ, in whose name ‘they would preach to all nations repentance and forgiveness of sins.’
“This,” he continued, “is the witness – not only with words but also with everyday life – the testimony that every Sunday should go out of our churches in order to enter throughout the whole week into our homes, our offices, our schools, our gathering places and entertainment venues, our hospitals, prisons, and homes for the elderly, into places crowded with immigrants, on the outskirts of the city. We must carry this witness every week: Christ is with us; Jesus is ascended to heaven; He is with us; Christ is alive!”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Sunday is the 50 th World Day for Social Communications , an annual recurrence begun by Bl. Paul VI in the wake of the II Vatican Council as a way of setting in relief the importance the Council Fathers put on recovering the genius of the Church for proclaiming the Gospel, especially in a world ever more signed by the spread and growth of communications technology and ever more starved for truth.
Pope Francis ’ Message for the 50 th World Communications Day focuses on the need to foster fruitful human encounters by communicating with mercy . “In a broken, fragmented and polarized world,” writes Pope Francis , “to communicate with mercy means to help create a healthy, free and fraternal closeness between the children of God and all our brothers and sisters in the one human family.”
You can find out more about the the 50 th World Communications Day by visiting the dedicated website space created by the new Secretariat for Communication at this link .
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis used his remarks to the faithful at Sunday’s Regina coeli to mark the 50 th annual recurrence of World Communications Day , recalling the fundamental mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News of Christ’s victory over death, and the duty of all the baptized faithful of every age and in every state of life within the Church to make themselves protagonists of that mission.
“The [II Vatican] Council Fathers,” he said, drawing on his Message for the occasion, published earlier this year, “reflecting on the Church in the contemporary world, understood the crucial importance of communications, which ‘are capable of building bridges among persons, families, social groups, and peoples – and this both in physical and in digital environments.’”
The Holy Father went on to say, “I offer cordial greetings to everyone working the field of communications, and I hope that our way of communicating in the Church will always have a clear Gospel style, [conducted in] a manner that unites truth and mercy.”
Readers can find out more about the 50 th World Communications Day by visiting the dedicated website space created by the new Secretariat for Communication at this link .
(from Vatican Radio)…