On World Communications Day Messages
Introduction
World Communications Day Messages are written by the Pope every
year, published for the feast of St. Francis de Sales (patron of
writers) on the 24th of January, and celebrated on the Sunday of
the Lord's Ascension.
I became aware of this Papal message only seven years ago, when a
religious relative of mine, knew I was exploring the internet, and
referred me to John Paul II's 36th World Communications Day
Message. Because of John Paul's spiritual influence through this
message (and also other documents on the Church in relation to
this topic), I was able to understand the value of "proclaiming
the Gospel on the Net".
43rd World Communications Day Message
This Sunday, we are celebrating the 43rd World Communications Day.
Through this message of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, we are
to reflect on how we can "promote a culture of respect, dialogue,
and friendship on the Net". And to help us understand this
message better, we can also look back to the previous WCD messages
- especially the first 12 messages written by Pope Paul VI.
Vatican web site
If we go to the Vatican web site at www.vatican.va, we can search
for the 1st World Communications Day Message. We will find and
discover that this 1st WCD Message was given by Pope Paul VI on
May 7, 1967. We will then come to understand that these messages
are one of the fruits of the new theology and spirituality of the
Vatican II Council. With a spirit of openness to go out into the
world for a more active evangelization, it is no wonder that the
Church is open to new forms of communications - more specifically,
the social communications medium of the Internet. And since John
Paul II made that call to mission on the Net last May 12, 2002,
the same spirit of mission is also encouraged now in the 43rd WCD
Message of Pope Benedict XVI. He encourages specifically the
youth to engage themselves in promoting a Catholic culture of
respect, dialogue, and friendship in our new "digital continent".
Links to the 1st 12 WCD messages
If you want to learn what Pope Paul VI said in the 1st World
Communications Day Message, you can visit this page in the site
of the Vatican. There is also an index of all the other 1st 12
WCD messages in the Vatican web site.
If you have a social bookmarking account with Delicious.com, you
may want to add my list of bookmarks to your own bookmark
collection. I have included both Vatican links mentioned above
in my Delicious.com bookmarks.
Labels: pope paul vi, world communications day
posted by Dennis Emmanuel Cabrera @ 5:32 PM
