Pope Francis: Message for World Communications Day, “no one is an extra on the world stage”

“The Bible is the great love story between God and humanity”. This is according to Pope Francis who, in his Message for the 54th World Communications Day, recalled how “the Exodus experience teaches us that knowledge of the Lord is handed down from generation to generation mainly by telling the story of how he continues to make himself present”. “The God of life communicates with us through the story of life. Jesus spoke of God not with abstract concepts, but with parables, brief stories taken from everyday life. At this point life becomes story and then, for the listener, story becomes life: the story becomes part of the life of those who listen to it, and it changes them”. For the Holy Father, “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”. According to the Pope, “it is not a matter of simply telling stories as such, or of advertising ourselves, but rather of remembering who and what we are in God’s eyes, bearing witness to what the Spirit writes in our hearts and revealing to everyone that his or her story contains marvellous things”.
Valentina Bombelli