Message from the Pope to journalists
5/13/2025 8:18:00 AM
Italian media gave wide coverage to Pope Leo XIV’s meeting on Monday morning with communication professionals from around the world, held in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Among the participants was the National News Agency accredited to the Holy See. The coverage focused heavily on the large number of representatives from both foreign and Italian media outlets.
The Pope’s speech was brief due to his many commitments, but the Holy See Press Office distributed the full text of the address to accredited journalists.
The Holy Father delivered words filled with faith, gratitude, and hope. In his address, he not only expressed appreciation but also offered a profound Gospel-based vision of communication, drawing inspiration from the Beatitudes of Christ. He called on media professionals to be “peacemakers in a time marked by tensions, misinformation, and polarization.”
The Pope’s message was not merely professional encouragement but a prophetic call to restore humanity to speech, disarm media discourse, and elevate communication to a true service of human dignity, truth, and peace.
He said: “Peace begins within each of us: in the way we look at others, how we listen to them, and how we speak about them. In this sense, our style of communication is of fundamental importance: we must reject the warfare of words and images, and remove the logic of war from our media discourse.”
He added: “Allow me, then, to renew today the Church’s solidarity with journalists imprisoned for seeking and conveying the truth, and to call for their release. The Church sees in these witnesses — especially those reporting on war zones even at the cost of their lives — a model of courage in defending dignity, justice, and the people’s right to know. People can only make free choices if they are well-informed. The suffering of these journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, urging us all to safeguard the precious good of freedom of expression and the press.”
He continued: “Thank you, dear friends, for your service to the truth. You have been in Rome in recent weeks to cover the Church’s events in all their diversity and unity. You followed the rites of Holy Week and conveyed the pain of the loss of Pope Francis, a pain illuminated by the light of the Resurrection. We live in difficult times, both in our journey and in the way it is told. This era is a challenge for all of us, and we must not run from it. On the contrary, each of us is called in our own role to resist mediocrity and indifference. The Church is called to face the challenges of its time, and likewise, no media or press should be detached from its era and history. As Saint Augustine reminds us: ‘Let us live well and the times will be good, for we are the times.’”
He concluded: “You are on the front lines of reporting conflicts and hopes for peace, documenting injustice and poverty, and tracking the silent efforts made by many to build a better world. For this reason, I ask you to consciously and courageously choose the path of communication that strives for peace. Thank you. May God bless you. Until we meet again soon.”
The Pope’s speech was brief due to his many commitments, but the Holy See Press Office distributed the full text of the address to accredited journalists.
The Holy Father delivered words filled with faith, gratitude, and hope. In his address, he not only expressed appreciation but also offered a profound Gospel-based vision of communication, drawing inspiration from the Beatitudes of Christ. He called on media professionals to be “peacemakers in a time marked by tensions, misinformation, and polarization.”
The Pope’s message was not merely professional encouragement but a prophetic call to restore humanity to speech, disarm media discourse, and elevate communication to a true service of human dignity, truth, and peace.
He said: “Peace begins within each of us: in the way we look at others, how we listen to them, and how we speak about them. In this sense, our style of communication is of fundamental importance: we must reject the warfare of words and images, and remove the logic of war from our media discourse.”
He added: “Allow me, then, to renew today the Church’s solidarity with journalists imprisoned for seeking and conveying the truth, and to call for their release. The Church sees in these witnesses — especially those reporting on war zones even at the cost of their lives — a model of courage in defending dignity, justice, and the people’s right to know. People can only make free choices if they are well-informed. The suffering of these journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, urging us all to safeguard the precious good of freedom of expression and the press.”
He continued: “Thank you, dear friends, for your service to the truth. You have been in Rome in recent weeks to cover the Church’s events in all their diversity and unity. You followed the rites of Holy Week and conveyed the pain of the loss of Pope Francis, a pain illuminated by the light of the Resurrection. We live in difficult times, both in our journey and in the way it is told. This era is a challenge for all of us, and we must not run from it. On the contrary, each of us is called in our own role to resist mediocrity and indifference. The Church is called to face the challenges of its time, and likewise, no media or press should be detached from its era and history. As Saint Augustine reminds us: ‘Let us live well and the times will be good, for we are the times.’”
He concluded: “You are on the front lines of reporting conflicts and hopes for peace, documenting injustice and poverty, and tracking the silent efforts made by many to build a better world. For this reason, I ask you to consciously and courageously choose the path of communication that strives for peace. Thank you. May God bless you. Until we meet again soon.”