“So that you can tell your son and grandson.” Life creates history.

This is the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the 54th World Day of Social Communications, which will be celebrated on May 24, 2020, the Sunday before Pentecost. The message will be published on January 24, 2020 (memorial of St. Francis of Sales).

By choosing this theme, taken from a passage in the Book of Exodus, Pope Francis underlines how particularly precious is the patrimony of memory in communications. The Pope has emphasized many times that there is no future without being rooted in the lived history. He has helped us understand that memory is not to be considered as a “static body”, but more like a “dynamic reality”. It is by means of memory that the stories, hopes, dreams and experiences of one generation are passed on to another.

In addition, the next World Communications Day’s theme reminds us that every story is born out of life, from interacting with others. Communication is, therefore, called to connect memory with life through stories. Jesus resorted to parables to communicate the vital power of the Kingdom of God, leaving his audience free to welcome these narratives and to apply them to themselves. The ability to generate change expresses how powerful a story is. An exemplary story possesses a transformative power. We experience this when we turn to the lives of the saints, told through stories. The Holy Father recently touched on this point in speaking to the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication, when he urged that the “great riches” offered by the testimony of the lives of the martyrs be communicated.

Once again, at the center of the Pontiff’s message, is the person and their relationships and innate ability to communicate. The Pope asks everyone, no one is excluded, to make this talent bear fruit: to make of communications an instrument with which to build bridges, to unite and to share the beauty of being brothers and sisters in a moment of history marked by discord and division.

(Article courtesy of Vatican News)