I would like to explore what Pope Francis has said about communications over recent years, because I believe that his reflections speak to the challenges facing all of us as missionary disciples of Jesus in today’s world. Each year on the World Day of Social Communications, Francis would issue a message. The theme of these messages were encountering persons where and how they are (2021), hearing with the ear of the heart (2022), and speaking to the heart (2023).
In 2021 Francis challenged journalists and news writers to meet people where they are or, as he put it, “to hit the street”. He thanked journalists for their courage in taking the risk to meet people “how and where they are”. However, internet and social media have raised the problem of mis - or disinformation. News information and images can be easily manipulated for a variety of reasons. But Francis says, “All of us are to be witnesses of the truth: to go, to see and to share.”
In 2022 Francis said Jesus calls his disciples to evaluate the quality of their listening. “Take heed then how you hear” (Lk 8:18). He spoke about the patience required to truly listen.
As an example of the importance of listening, Francis turned to the issue of migration. “The reality of forced migration is also a complex issue, and no one has a ready-made prescription for solving it. I repeat that, in order to overcome prejudices about migrants and to melt the hardness of our hearts, we should try to listen to their stories. Give each of them a name and a story.”
In 2023 Francis moved on from the theme of “to come and see” and “to listen” to the theme of “speaking with the heart”. This begins often enough with the experience of friendly conversations. Such encounters help people to “peacefully reflect and interpret with a critical yet always respectful spirit, the reality in which they live.” Then going on to the task of communicating what one has heard, Francis quotes from St John Henry Newman who said, “In order to speak well, it is enough to love well”. This shows that for Newman, “communication should never be reduced to something artificial, to a marketing strategy, as we might say nowadays, but is rather a reflection of the soul, the visible surface of a nucleus of love that is invisible to the eye.”
Communication lies at the heart of World Mission. Christian websites abound on the internet because it is one of the more effective means by which we communicate to today’s world our messages and stories. What Pope Francis is saying to us is that we must ensure that our messages and stories come from lived experience. In other words, we can truly say that we have been there and learnt how to listen patiently to people and to listen from the heart. Having done so, the more difficult challenge is to then ensure that our message reflects our deep love for people, our faith in Jesus Christ whose call is to “come and see”, and our courage to speak the truth.
Columban Fr Tom Rouse is the Regional Councillor for Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Mission Intentions
August - For mutual coexistance: Let us pray that societies where coexistence seems more difficult might not succumb to the temptation of confrontation for ethnic, political, religious or idelogical reasons.
Listen to "Mission World - Communications and World Mission"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - August 2025
