Pope: social communications, telling the good that unites and not the fake

Francis’ message is dedicated "to the theme of narration". God himself is both creator and narrator. "In fact, he pronounces his Word and things exist." "Even the Gospels are stories." The story of Jesus, then, shows how God took man to heart and that for Him "there are no insignificant or small human stories".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Man is the only being who "needs" to speak and tell, but the narrative must not be exploited, used as a possession, rather it must serve the truth, become an instrument "of the beauty all around us ”, fruit of the love of the Creator.

Escape from evil, from the "violence and falsehood" of chatter and gossip and " make our own the truth contained in good stories ", first of all in the Bible and in the others that "inspired" can become "an appendix of the Gospel", like the Confessions of Augustine is the heart of Pope Francis' message for the 54th World Social Communications Day which is celebrated in many countries on Sunday 24 May this year and which has the theme "Tell your children and grandchildren" ( Ex 10.2). Life becomes history ".

Published today, on the feast day of the patron saint of journalists, St. Francis de Sales, the message, the Pope writes, is dedicated "to the theme of narration", because in the face of the spread of "false and evil" tales, up to "exponential levels" of deepfake, “I because I believe that, so as not to lose our bearings, we need to make our own the truth contained in good stories. Stories that build up, not tear down; stories that help us rediscover our roots and the strength needed to move forward together".

God himself, Francis writes, is both a creator and narrator. “In fact, od speaks his word and things come into existence (cf. Gen 1). As narrator, God calls things into life, culminating in the creation of man and woman as his free dialogue partners, who make history alongside him".

" he Bible is thus the great love story between God and humanity. At its centre stands Jesus, whose own story brings to fulfilment both God’s love for us and our love for God. Henceforth, in every generation, men and women are called to recount and commit to memory the most significant episodes of this Story of stories, those that best communicate its meaning".

“The Gospels are also stories, and not by chance. While they tell us about Jesus, they are “performative”[1]; they conform us to Jesus. The Gospel asks the reader to share in the same faith in order to share in the same life. The Gospel of John tells us that the quintessential storyteller – the Word – himself becomes the story: “God’s only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (Jn 1: 18). The original verb, exegésato, can be translated both as “revealed” and “recounted”. God has become personally woven into our humanity, and so has given us a new way of weaving our stories".

The story of Jesus, then, shows how God took man to heart and that for him "there are no insignificant or small human stories". " By the power of the Holy Spirit, every story, even the most forgotten one, even the one that seems to be written with the most crooked lines, can become inspired, can be reborn as a masterpiece, and become an appendix to the Gospel. Like the Confessions of Augustine. Like A Pilgrim’s Journey of Ignatius. Like The Story of a Soul of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. Like The Betrothed, like The Brothers Karamazov. Like countless other stories, which have admirably scripted the encounter between God’s freedom and that of man.  ".

“Our own story becomes part of every great story. As we read the Scriptures, the stories of the saints, and also those texts that have shed light on the human heart and its beauty, the Holy Spirit is free to write in our hearts, reviving our memory of what we are in God’s eyes”. And "telling our story to God is never useless".

“To tell our story to the Lord is to enter into his gaze of compassionate love for us and for others. We can recount to him the stories we live, bringing to him the people and the situations that fill our lives. With him we can re-weave the fabric of life, darning its rips and tears. How much we, all of us, need to do exactly this! With the gaze of the great storyteller – the only one who has the ultimate point of view – we can then approach the other characters, our brothers and sisters, who are with us as actors in today’s story. For no one is an extra on the world stage, and everyone’s story is open to possible change. Even when we tell of evil, we can learn to leave room for redemption; in the midst of evil, we can also recognize the working of goodness and give it space”.

May Mary undoer of "the pile of knots in which our life is tangled, help us build stories of peace, stories that point to the future. ". (FP)