Elements of Discernment in Communio et Progressio: Who, what, where, how, why?

Looking for a way to simplify the elements given by Communio et Progressio that can help us rethink, I have structured the elements into a version of the famous “5Ws,” once proposed by the rhetorician Hermagoras of Themnos, and which are well known in the world of journalism.

Who: “The modern means of social communication offer today’s men a great round table. Here they can participate in a worldwide exchange in search of brotherhood and cooperation” (n.19).

The first question is who, a necessary question to understand the actors, both protagonists and receivers of the media. I am struck by the way Communio et Progressio approaches communication from a vision of dialogue (n.73–75,81,etc), a very advanced vision for a 50 year old document, understanding a non-monodirectional way of understanding the media but also the pastoral life of the Church, which is definitely not the way many Catholics still see ecclesial life.

It is also a “Who” open to the universality of this fraternity, where identity is not given from difference and otherness, but from the encounter with the person of Jesus present in each one.

“There is no longer need of the adversary to define oneself, because the gaze of inclusion that we learn from Christ makes us discover otherness in a new way, as an integral part and condition of relationship and proximity” (The Pope to the 53rd World Day of Social Communication).

In other words, the one she communicates to is the whole of humanity, but she also makes it a participant in this multidirectional exercise of communication/communion, in which the Church becomes the ears of a God of mercy, and the bearer of the word of justice for all peoples.

In narrative terms, it is urgent to rethink the protagonisms within the ecclesial media and to reflect on how to make Christ more central in them. And from a logic of power, it is also necessary to think about how to use this power granted by a historical construction to the Church, and in what way this power can be used to do justice and give voice to the most vulnerable populations and people.

What? “To unite men in fraternity and thus help them to cooperate with his plan of salvation” (2).

These are two essential axioms in Catholic communication: the fraternal search for unity and the proclamation of the Kingdom. Every message and every form of communication must be based on them.

On the one hand, it is the need pointed out by Francis: a Church that builds bridges and not walls, open to solidarity, to the creation of spaces of fraternity, to deepen what unites us. A Church with her gaze fixed on Jesus, can welcome the life stories of each person, recognizing that “after God became history, every human story is, in some way, a divine story” ( The Pope at the 54th World Communications Day). By recognizing the divinity in the life of the other, we can build messages of fraternity that are not forced or ethereal, but that start from the dignity and wonder of my “alter Christus”, in order to build community with him or her.

On the other hand, the proclamation of the Kingdom reminds us of the need to bring people to what we have known: the richness of the encounter with the person of Jesus; transformer of history, son of the living God, who comes to liberate the oppressed from every structure of death and oppression. The proclamation of the Kingdom is the proclamation of incarnate justice, incarnate peace, incarnate joy, who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14).

Where: “Communicate by meeting people where they are and as they are” Communications Day 2021.

As the message of Communications Day 2021 says, there is an urgent need for communication that meets people in their concrete spaces of existence. This “communication” goes far beyond the traditional means of communication and involves the whole life of the Church: pastoral, social, liturgical: that is, an ecclesial communication that “is” and communicates with and befriends people, feels their pains and rejoices in their joys, regardless of whether they are university students, migrants, women, children.

At the same time, it is a “where” where the efforts, energies and knowledge of the people involved in each of the communicative processes are put. On many occasions, the fairest thing to do is to move away from common spaces of comfort that tell the same stories, or perpetuate messages that serve unfair or ineffective uses. In this sense, it is worth reflecting on the “where” in terms of the use of power, which is definitely linked to access to mass media. When communication contributes to a Church that privileges “the obsession with the law, the fascination with flaunting social and political conquests, the ostentation in the care of liturgy, doctrine and the prestige of the Church” (Gaudete et exsultate, n.57), it is definitely not the space to contribute with energy, professionalism and life.

This is where some Christians spend their energies and time, instead of letting themselves be led by the Spirit in the way of love, of being passionate about communicating the beauty and joy of the Gospel and seeking the lost in those immense multitudes thirsty for Christ (Gaudete et exsultate, n.57).

So, yes, it is a space when this power is used to contribute to the spread of joy, beauty, to give voice to the thirsty, and to build a civilization of love that welcomes all.

How: “For the Church has been commanded by God to give people the message of salvation in a language they can understand and to concern herself with their concerns” (Gaudete et exsultate, n. 57).

This in imitation of Christ who “conformed himself to the way his people spoke and to their patterns of thought.” This also implies using the power of many types of media: from the arts, to cinema, to digital media. The strength of the Gospel is in its newness, and how it becomes actual in the here and now of every community and person. The saving presence of Christ is present in every people, and the Church with the beauty of the mission.

I have also learned the power of “Show, not tell”. It would be useless to advertise a delicious hamburger only to find that when we arrive at the restaurant the meat is of poor quality, the service is lousy and we are excluded from the place because of who we are. A communication of a welcoming, merciful and missionary Church cannot be misrepresented when it is not always so. For this, integral and concrete processes of transformation are urgently needed at all levels, in all its actions.

Why? “The media help Catholics in three ways. They help the Church to reveal herself to the modern world. It fosters dialogue within the Church. It brings contemporary opinions and attitudes to the attention of the Church” (n.125).

The media are shapers of the world: they shape daily experiences, societies, political projects. Building media from fraternity, inclusion, beauty and hope; rooted in brotherhood and the proclamation of the Kingdom; contribute to think of better possible worlds, and with this, more solid and healthy communities, witness of a Trinitarian God who is a community of love.

Beyond this, it is communicated by an almost ontological need, of a love that overflows and must be shared. A desire for Christ and a transformation and conversion that cannot be contained and limited, but is done together with others.