'Speak with the heart' - theme for next World Day of Social Communications

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Source: Vatican News

'Speak with the heart: Veritatem facientes in caritate' (Doing the truth in charity) is the theme for the next World Day of Social Communications 2023, which will be celebrated on 21 May 2023. The theme, which connects with that of 2022 - 'Listen with the ear of the heart' is intended to form part of the path that will lead the entire Church to the celebration of the Synod in October 2023.

A Vatican statement explains that speaking with the heart, means giving "a reason for your hope" and by doing so gently, "using the gift of communication as a bridge and not as a wall."

The theme invites everyone not to "fear to state the at times uncomfortable truth that finds its foundation in the Gospel."

But this proclamation also calls for "a style of mercy, of sincere participation in the joys and sufferings of people of our time," as shown in the dialogue between the mysterious wayfarer and the disciples of Emmaus in the Bible.

It promotes, "a communication open to dialogue with the other, that fosters "integral disarmament", that strives to dismantle the "psychosis of war" that lurks in our hearts," as Saint John XXIII prophetically exhorted 60 years ago in Pacem in Terris.

Everyone, and in particular those who work in the field of communications, are called upon to exercise their profession "as a mission for building a more just, more fraternal and more human future."

Pope Francis has appointed two new members and 10 new consultors to the Dicastery for Communications, in preparation for the Day.

The new members are: Archbishop Ivan Maffeis, archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve (Italy) and Bishop Valdir Jose De Castro, of Campo Limpo (Brazil). The new consultors are: Fr George Plattoham, secretary of the Office of Social Communication of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC); Oscar Elizade Prada, coordinator of the Department of Communication of CELAM; Helen Osman, president of SIGNIS; Fr Fabio Pasqualetti, dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the Pontifical Salesian University; Sr Veronica Donatello, head of the National Service for the Pastoral Care of Persons with Disabilities of the Italian Bishops' Conference, Sr Adelaide Felicitas Ndilu, national executive secretary of the Commission for Social Communications of the Kenyan Bishops' Conference and director of Radio Waumini; Fr Andrew Kaufa, coordinator of the Office of Communications of the AMECEA Regional Conference of Bishops; Tomas Insua, executive director of the Laudato Si movement; Professor Antonio Cisternino, president of the University of Pisa's Ateno Information System (CIO); and John E Corcoran, founder of Trinity Life Sciences