Everyone can access the latest news everywhere, thanks to advanced technology, especially the social media. However, people are exposed to both true or false and positive or negative news. It is on their own discretion to which kind of news they will pass on.
On Sunday, May 28, 2017, we shall celebrate this years’ World Communications Day with the theme “Fear Not, for I am With You (Isaiah 43:5): Communicating Hope and Trust in our Time”. This theme “is an invitation to tell the history of the world and the stories of men and women in accordance with the logic of ‘good news’ that reminds us that God never cease to be a Father” to everyone at any situation, according to the Vatican Secretariat of Communications.
His Holiness Pope Francis encourages the people to spread the good news in his message for the 51st World Communications Day released on January 24, 2017, the feast day of Saint Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers and journalists.
“I would like to encourage everyone to engage in constructive forms of communication that reject prejudice toward others and foster a culture of encounter, helping all of us to view the world around us with realism and trust.”
“I would like, then, to contribute to the search for an open and creative style of communication that never seeks to glamorize evil but, instead, to concentrate on solutions and to inspire a positive and responsible approach on the part of its recipients. I ask everyone to offer the people of our time storylines that are at heart “good news”.
In celebration of this event, the Archdiocese of Manila’s Social Communications Ministry, including the Church’s forefront in media, Radio Veritas, TV Maria and the Archdiocesan Office of Communication, will conduct a seminar with the theme “Communicating Hope and Trust in Our Time: Philippine Media Perspectives”. This aims to put the insights of the Pope’s message for the 51st World Communication on Sunday in the Philippine context. The program will commence with a Eucharistic Celebration to be presided by Fr. Jojo Buenafe. Paterno Esmaquel II of Rappler Philippines will be the keynote speaker.
World Communications Day is the only worldwide celebration called for by the Second Vatican Council (“Inter Mirifica”, 1963). It is celebrated every year on the Sunday before Pentecost. The announcement of the theme is customarily made on September 29, the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, who have been designated as the patrons of those who work in radio. The Pope’s message for the event is traditionally published in conjunction with the Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, patron of writers (January 24), to allow bishops’ conferences, diocesan offices and communications organizations sufficient time to prepare for national and local celebrations.
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