"Communication at the Service of an Authentic Culture of
Encounter"
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today we are living in a world which is growing ever
“smaller” and where, as a result, it would seem to be easier for all of us to
be neighbours. Developments in travel and communications technology are
bringing us closer together and making us more connected, even as globalization
makes us increasingly interdependent. Nonetheless, divisions, which are
sometimes quite deep, continue to exist within our human family. On the global
level we see a scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter
destitution of the poor.
Often we need only walk the streets of a city to see the
contrast between people living on the street and the brilliant lights of the
store windows. We have become so accustomed to these things that they no longer
unsettle us. Our world suffers from many forms of exclusion, marginalization
and poverty, to say nothing of conflicts born of a combination of economic,
political, ideological, and, sadly, even religious motives.
In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one
another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which can in turn
inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all.
Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better, and
ultimately, to grow in unity. The walls which divide us can be broken down only
if we are prepared to listen and learn from one another.
We need to resolve our differences through forms of dialogue
which help us grow in understanding and mutual respect. A culture of encounter
demands that we be ready not only to give, but also to receive. Media can help
us greatly in this, especially nowadays, when the networks of human
communication have made unprecedented advances. The internet, in particular,
offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something
truly good, a gift from God.
This is not to say that certain problems do not exist. The
speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for
reflection and judgment, and this does not make for more balanced and proper
forms of self-expression. The variety of opinions being aired can be seen as
helpful, but it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of information
which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political and economic
interests.
The world of communications can help us either to expand our
knowledge or to lose our bearings. The desire for digital connectivity can have
the effect of isolating us from our neighbours, from those closest to us. We
should not overlook the fact that those who for whatever reason lack access to
social media run the risk of being left behind.
While these drawbacks are real, they do not justify rejecting
social media; rather, they remind us that communication is ultimately a human
rather than technological achievement. What is it, then, that helps us, in the
digital environment, to grow in humanity and mutual understanding? We need, for
example, to recover a certain sense of deliberateness and calm.
This calls for time and the ability to be silent and to
listen. We need also to be patient if we want to understand those who are
different from us. People only express themselves fully when they are not
merely tolerated, but know that they are truly accepted. If we are genuinely
attentive in listening to others, we will learn to look at the world with
different eyes and come to appreciate the richness of human experience as
manifested in different cultures and traditions.
We will also learn to appreciate more fully the important
values inspired by Christianity, such as the vision of the human person, the
nature of marriage and the family, the proper distinction between the religious
and political spheres, the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, and many
others.
How, then, can communication be at the service of an
authentic culture of encounter? What does it mean for us, as disciples of the
Lord, to encounter others in the light of the Gospel? In spite of our own
limitations and sinfulness, how do we draw truly close to one another? These
questions are summed up in what a scribe – a communicator – once asked Jesus:
“And who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:29).
This question can help us to see communication in terms of
“neighbourliness”. We might paraphrase the question in this way: How can we be
“neighbourly” in our use of the communications media and in the new environment
created by digital technology? I find an answer in the parable of the Good
Samaritan, which is also a parable about communication.
Those who communicate, in effect, become neighbours. The Good
Samaritan not only draws nearer to the man he finds half dead on the side of
the road; he takes responsibility for him. Jesus shifts our understanding: it
is not just about seeing the other as someone like myself, but of the ability
to make myself like the other. Communication is really about realizing that we
are all human beings, children of God. I like seeing this power of
communication as “neighbourliness”.
Whenever communication is primarily aimed at promoting
consumption or manipulating others, we are dealing with a form of violent
aggression like that suffered by the man in the parable, who was beaten by
robbers and left abandoned on the road.
The Levite and the priest do not regard him as a neighbour,
but as a stranger to be kept at a distance. In those days, it was rules of
ritual purity which conditioned their response. Nowadays there is a danger that
certain media so condition our responses that we fail to see our real
neighbour.
It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways,
simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters. We cannot
live apart, closed in on ourselves. We need to love and to be loved. We need
tenderness. Media strategies do not ensure beauty, goodness and truth in
communication.
The world of media also has to be concerned with humanity, it
too is called to show tenderness. The digital world can be an environment rich
in humanity; a network not of wires but of people. The impartiality of media is
merely an appearance; only those who go out of themselves in their
communication can become a true point of reference for others.
Personal engagement is the basis of the trustworthiness of a
communicator. Christian witness, thanks to the internet, can thereby reach the
peripheries of human existence.
As I have frequently observed, if a choice has to be made
between a bruised Church which goes out to the streets and a Church suffering
from self-absorption, I certainly prefer the first. Those “streets” are the
world where people live and where they can be reached, both effectively and
affectively. The digital highway is one of them, a street teeming with people
who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope.
By means of the internet, the Christian message can reach “to
the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Keeping the doors of our churches open also
means keeping them open in the digital environment so that people, whatever
their situation in life, can enter, and so that the Gospel can go out to reach
everyone. We are called to show that the Church is the home of all. Are we
capable of communicating the image of such a Church? Communication is a means
of expressing the missionary vocation of the entire Church; today the social
networks are one way to experience this call to discover the beauty of faith,
the beauty of encountering Christ. In the area of communications too, we need a
Church capable of bringing warmth and of stirring hearts.
Effective Christian witness is not about bombarding people
with religious messages, but about our willingness to be available to others
“by patiently and respectfully engaging their questions and their doubts as
they advance in their search for the truth and the meaning of human existence”
(BENEDICT XVI, Message for the 47th World Communications Day, 2013).
We need but recall the story of the disciples on the way to
Emmaus. We have to be able to dialogue with the men and women of today, to
understand their expectations, doubts and hopes, and to bring them the Gospel,
Jesus Christ himself, God incarnate, who died and rose to free us from sin and
death. We are challenged to be people of depth, attentive to what is happening
around us and spiritually alert.
To dialogue means to believe that the “other” has something
worthwhile to say, and to entertain his or her point of view and perspective.
Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but
the claim that they alone are valid or absolute.
May the image of the Good Samaritan who tended to the wounds
of the injured man by pouring oil and wine over them be our inspiration. Let
our communication be a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens
hearts.
May the light we bring to others not be the result of
cosmetics or special effects, but rather of our being loving and merciful
“neighbours” to those wounded and left on the side of the road.
Let us boldly become
citizens of the digital world. The Church needs to be concerned for, and
present in, the world of communication, in order to dialogue with people today
and to help them encounter Christ. She needs to be a Church at the side of
others, capable of accompanying everyone along the way.
The revolution taking place in communications media and in
information technologies represents a great and thrilling challenge; may we
respond to that challenge with fresh energy and imagination as we seek to share
with others the beauty of God.
FRANCIS
