The past several days have been very exciting with our newly elected Pope all over the news, both Catholic and secular. I have seen excellent moments where our faith is shared and explained especially in secular media sources. It’s appropriate that so early in his Papacy, Leo XIV held an audience with journalists from all over the world. He said to them, “Your service, with the words you use and the style you adopt, is crucial. As you know, communication is not only the transmission of information, but it is also the creation of a culture of human and digital environments that become spaces for dialogue and discussion. In looking at how technology is developing, this mission becomes ever more necessary.”
“Peace,” continued Pope Leo, “begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others, and speak about others. In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: We must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war.”
His call to greater respect in communication not only applies to journalists, but to every one of us. It is so easy to do violence to others through our words, even when right and the other person is wrong. Nobody has a right to misrepresent or mistreat another in word or deed.
Saint James reminds us in Scripture, in the third chapter of his letter, “in the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretentions. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers.” Our words are powerful!
On the front row at the audience with journalists was a the Peruvian journalist, Paola Ugaz, who for years has worked closely with the Pope while he was Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru to bring to justice perpetrators of abuse. She had planned to meet with the Cardinal after the Conclave and had brought him a scarf as a gift from Peru. Since now he’s Pope, she presented it to him at the audience. It was a touching moment. Paola reports that the Holy Father said to her, “there will soon be news about Peru.” Could it be a Papal visit? A new Cardinal? A positive step in regards to the abuse cases, particularly in regards to the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana? We will wait.
May we heed this important lesson from the Pope: that we will be kind in communicating, never doing violence to the other.
Picture used under the Creative Commons License. Attribution here.
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