Catholic media want to make their voices heard Mgr Jean Marc Micas, bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, presided over the opening mass of the 26th day of Saint François de Sales which took place in Lourdes from January 25 to 27. 230 representatives of the Catholic media of 25 nationalities are gathered around the theme: “how to be heard?”.
Jean Charles Putzolu – Special Envoy to Lourdes, France In 26 years of existence, the Saint Francis de Sales Days had never brought together so many media and journalists. The president of the Federation of Catholic Media, Jean Marie Montel, welcomed this international openness, a sign that the theme chosen for the exchanges this year “How to be heard?”, is a question that many Catholic media ask themselves. , wherever they are, under the assault of the noise society. At the beginning of the 20th century, Pius XI did not yet speak of “noise” but of “workers of evil”, recalls Jean Marie Montel.
Pope Pius XI invited us to “take care of the form and the beauty of the style, to enhance and adorn the ideas with the brilliance of the language in such a way as to make the truth attractive to the reader; to know, when an attack is necessary, to refute errors and to oppose the malice of the workers of evil, so as however to show that one is animated by right intentions and that one acts above all in a feeling of charity “.
Opening session of the Saint Francis de Sales Days
Opening session of the Saint Francis de Sales Days For Paolo Ruffini, “We need to reflect and pray together so as not to get lost along the way”. The Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication maintains that Catholic journalists are seekers and witnesses of truth who, through their stories, nourish the identity of the person. However, they can also poison, disfigure and destroy it.
Francis invites to communicate with the heart in a time of polarizations
Francis invites to communicate with the heart in a time of polarizations “The call to speak with the heart radically challenges our time, so prone to indifference and indignation,” writes Pope Francis in his message for the 57th. .. Why be heard? To avoid falling into these excesses, it seems important to answer another question implied by the theme of the days: why should Catholic journalists and media be heard? “Because we feel that we have something to say that is different from the noise of the world”, supports Paolo Ruffini who takes up the last message of Pope Francis for the 57th day of social communications, suggesting “to make ourselves heard by seeking another way, that of the heart. A simple path, which far from what the society of technology and appearance would like to impose, deals with substance. And Saint Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists, also indicated this path: “to love well in order to say well”.
Humility, the keystone of good journalism
One of the greatest journalists of recent times, the Polish Ryszard Kapuściński, theorized a single rule to exercise this profession well: empathy and harmony of hearts. To do good journalism, he said, you must first be a good person. Bad people cannot be good journalists. Only if you are a good person can you try to understand others, their intentions, their faith, their interests, their difficulties, their tragedies. And become immediately, from the first moment, an integral part of their destiny”. To be heard, it is therefore necessary to show humility, the keystone of good journalism, according to François. You have to free yourself from your own theorems, your own prejudices, your own sick heart, and your own delusions of grandeur. The search for truth requires that humility which makes one approach reality and others with an attitude of understanding.
Source: Les médias catholiques veulent faire entendre leurs voix – Vatican News