At Vatican jubilee, Pope Francis skips prepared text for heart-to-heart with journalists

CNA Newsroom, Jan 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

“Communication means stepping outside ourselves a bit to give something of myself to another,” Pope Francis told hundreds of communication professionals Saturday, speaking spontaneously after setting aside his prepared remarks at the Vatican’s Jubilee of Communication.

“In my hands, I have a nine-page speech,” the pope said with a smile to participants gathered in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. He announced to an applauding audience that he would have this document distributed but only speak briefly, given the hour and the fact that everyone was hungry.

“To know how to communicate is a great wisdom, and I am happy that this jubilee of communicators is taking place. Your work is one that builds. It builds society and it builds the Church,” the pope said, provided journalists are truthful and “real” in their interior life.

The Jan. 25 encounter with communicators was one of several Saturday jubilee audiences of 2025, following a first meeting with pilgrims.

The event began with a dialogue featuring Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa and author Colum McCann, moderated by veteran Italian journalist Mario Calabresi.

The pope’s prepared message, later shared with participants, addressed several pressing concerns facing modern communications.

The text called attention to journalists who died covering conflicts in the past year, noting that more than 120 media professionals lost their lives in 2024.

The written remarks also warned against what the pope termed “brain rot” caused by constant social media scrolling, calling for greater media literacy and critical thinking, especially among young people.

“We need courageous entrepreneurs, courageous information engineers, so that the beauty of communication is not corrupted,” the prepared text stated.

The message for participants in this Saturday jubilee gathering concluded with an appeal for what the pope called “hopetelling” — urging communicators to tell “stories of hope” that nurture life.

The words echoed the strong appeal to hope in the papal message for the 59th World Day of Social Communications, and the appeal to “tell stories steeped in hope, be concerned about our common destiny and strive to write together the history of our future.”

In the text shared on Saturday, the reality of war and suffering was not omitted. The Jubilee of Communication is taking place amid what the pope’s written message described as “a difficult moment in the history of humanity, with the world still wounded by wars and violence, by the shedding of so much innocent blood.”

“When you report on evil, leave space for the possibility of mending what has been torn,” the pope’s message advised.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/261811/pope-francis-tells-vatican-media-jubilee-communication-is-divine-journalism-must-foster-hope