Love of neighbor must begin with love of God, Pope Francis says

Pope Francis has lunch with his second cousin Carla Rabezzana at her home in Portacomaro, Italy on Nov. 19, 2022. / Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Nov 19, 2022 / 07:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis traveled to northern Italy on Saturday to celebrate the… […]

Vatican City, Sep 23, 2019 / 10:18 am (CNA).- When it comes to spreading the Word of God through media, no investment is too big, Pope Francis told officials and consultors of the Dicastery for Communication Monday.

In a prepared text given to participants in the Vatican’s Sala Regia Sept. 23, the pope spoke about communication as a mission of the Church. “No investment is too high for the diffusion of the Word of God,” he said. “At the same time, every ‘talent’ should be well spent, taken advantage of.”

Pope Francis went on to say that “in reality, our strength alone is not enough,” and referenced an address of St. Paul VI in 1964, in which he told the Vatican’s then-social communications department that “a thought of faith must therefore support the smallness of our humble efforts.”

“The more we make ourselves instruments in the hands of God, that is, small and generous, and the more the probability of our efficiency will grow,” Paul VI said.

“We know,” Pope Francis said, “that since then [1964] the challenges in this area have grown exponentially and our forces are never enough. The challenge to which you are called, as Christians and communicators, is really high. And that is why it is beautiful.”

The pope addressed the group of bishops and media professionals at the start of the plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Communications, being held at the Vatican Sept. 23-25.

This is the first plenary assembly of the dicastery since its institution in 2015. In attendance are the officials of the dicastery together with consultors from the international media realm, among whom is EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw. Catholic News Agency is a service of EWTN.

The pope commented, “I therefore rejoice that the theme chosen for this Assembly is ‘We are members of one another’. Your, our strength lies in unity, in being members of one another. Only so we can better respond to the needs of the Church’s mission.”

In addition to his prepared speech, which was dispersed in written form, Pope Francis gave lengthy impromptu remarks to the assembly, counseling them to have the “signature of testimony” in everything they do.

“If you want to communicate only the truth without goodness and beauty, stop yourselves, do not do it. If you want to communicate a kind of truth, but without involving yourselves, without giving witness to that truth with your very lives, with your very flesh, stop yourselves, do not do it,” the pope said.

He also warned them against falling into an attitude of resignation when confronted by the worldliness of society.

Worldliness is not new to this century, he said, “it was always a danger, it was always a temptation, it was always the enemy”

In this vein, the pope said he has heard people think the Church should close itself off a little, “be a tiny, but authentic Church.”

“That word that gives me an allergy,” he stated. “If something is, it is not necessary to say ‘authentic.’”

The Church should be small “like leaven, small like salt,” he urged. “This is the Christian vocation!”

To think the Church of the future will be a “Church of the elect” is to risk falling into “the heresy of the Essenes,” he said, which is how “Christian authenticity is lost.”

Francis added that “the resignation to cultural defeat… comes from the bad spirit, it does not come from God.”

“Do not be afraid,” he encouraged. “We are few? Yes, but with the desire to ‘missionize,’ to show others who we are. With witness.”

He said he also is a “little allergic” to when people say something is “truly Christian.” “We have fallen into the culture of adjectives and adverbs, and we have forgotten the strength of nouns,” he argued.

“This is the mission of communication: to communicate the reality, without sweetening it with adjectives or adverbs.”

Just say something is “a Christian thing,” he said. It is unnecessary to say something is “authentically Christian.”

The communicator must show the “true, the right, the good, and the beautiful,” he said, and he does this with “the soul and with the body; he communicates with the mind, with the heart, with the hands; you communicate with everything.”

“And it is true that the greatest communication is love: in love there is the fullness of communication: love for God and among us.”

Something those working in Catholic communications should not do is proselytism, the pope said, adding that as “Benedict XVI said with great clarity: ‘The Church does not grow because of proselytism, but because of attraction,’ that is, testimony.”

“And our communication should be testimony.”

Pope Francis concluded by thanking the members of the dicastery for their work, telling them to “communicate the joy of the Gospel: This is what the Lord asks of you today.”

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Pope Francis met with the Italian Autism Foundation in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall on April 1, 2022. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 1, 2022 / 05:00 am (CNA).

Ahead of World Autism Awareness Day, Pope Francis called for a “culture of inclusion,” which breaks down barriers to ensure that people with disabilities can more fully take part in church communities and civil society.

Pope Francis met with an autism association at the Vatican on Friday and expressed the importance of supporting education, employment, and social opportunities for people with all types of disabilities.

“Disability, in all its forms, represents a challenge and an opportunity to build together a more inclusive and civil society, where family members, teachers and associations like yours are not left alone but are supported,” the pope said in the meeting on April 1.

“For this reason, it is necessary to continue to raise awareness about the various aspects of disability, breaking down prejudices and promoting a culture of inclusion and belonging, based on the dignity of the person.”

The pope underlined that the Church in particular is called to help those with disabilities to “make their voices heard.”

“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a very serious impact especially on the most vulnerable, on the elderly, on people with disabilities and their families. In recent weeks, the tragedy of the war in Ukraine has been added: let’s think of those who are most disadvantaged,” he said.

World Autism Awareness Day takes place each year on April 2. It was established by the United Nations in 2008 to promote the rights and well-being of people who live with learning differences and developmental disabilities.

Pope Francis met with the Italian Autism Foundation, an organization dedicated to research and the creation of social inclusion programs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Philip, a 20-year-old man living on the autism spectrum, shared his life experiences with the pope in a brief speech at the beginning of the meeting in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.

After the papal audience, some of the group’s young members with autism volunteered to help bring food to the homeless in St. Peter’s Square.

The pope commended the young people for this “beautiful” gesture, which he said reminded him of the Good Samaritan described in Jesus’ parable in the Gospel of Luke.

“Closeness, compassion, tenderness. With these three features we see the face of God, the heart of God, the style of God,” he said.

Pope Francis pointed to the example of Saint Margaret of Citta de Castello, a 13th century woman born with multiple disabilities who devoted herself to prayer and caring for the poor.

He said that “all those men and women who are more fragile and vulnerable, too often marginalized because they are labeled as different or even useless … are actually a great treasure for society.”

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