1987 - 21st World Communications Day

MESSAGE 

OF THE HOLY FATHER 

FOR THE XXI WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY 

Theme: Social Communications at the Service of Justice and Peace

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Social communications constitutes a platform of exchange and dialogue which responds to a particular concern of my Pontificate, and that of my Predecessor, Paul Vl (cf. Message to the Special Session of the United Nations on Disarmament, 24 May 1978, 5): to contribute, in the promotion of peace through justice, to the passage from a balance of terror to a strategy of trust. With some urgency, therefore, I proposed as the theme for World Social Communications Day 1987: "Social Communications at the service of justice and peace". This I have repeated often, but I emphasize it today adding the following trust cannot be the work simply of those involved in politics, but it must come from the conscience of peoples. Having already dealt with the problem of peace (World Day of Peace 1983), this year I would like to continue this brief reflection on the work of justioe which brings about peace, the strategy of trust as the fulfilment of justice in view of peace.

I know that for you, workers in the field of social communications, the masses are not an anonymous multitude. They represent a continuous challenge to reach each and everyone in their particular context, at their own level of understanding and sensibility, thanks to the ever-more advanced technologies and ever-more effective means of communication. This appeal might resound in your conscience: transmit the strategy of trust through the means of communication, at the service of justice and peace!

1986 - 20th World Communications Day

MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XX WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

Theme: Social Communications and the Christian Formation of Public Opinion 

Dear brothers and sisters,

1. The recent Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, did not set out merely to be a solemn commemoration of that event, which was destined to mark so deeply the life of the Church in this century; more importantly, it brought the Council's spirit to life again and recalled anew its teachings and decisions. Thus, the Synod took the Second Vatican Council and relaunched it into the Church's life.

Among the iniliatives given birth by a directive of the Council there is one which is worthy of special mention. It is the annual World Communications Day, established in the first place "to strengthen more effectively the various forms of the Church's apostolate in the field of communications in all the dioceses of the world" (Inter Mirifica, l8). The decision to establish it, which shows what great importance the Council Fathers attributed to social communications, is seen to have even greater relevance today, with the ever growing influence of the communications media.

1985 - 19th World Communications Day

MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XIX WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

Theme: Social Communications for a Christian Promotion of Youth

My dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, men and women who have at heart the dignity of the human person, and, above all, you young people of the whole world, who have to write a new page of history for the year 2000!

1. The Church is getting ready, as it does every year, to celebrate World Communications Day. An occasion of prayers and reflection, in which the whole Church community, called to announce and witness to the Gospel (Mk 16:15), ought to feel involved, so that the mass media, through the cooperation of all persons of good will, may truly contribute to "the realization of justice, of peace, of freedom and of human progress" (Communio et Progressio, 100).

The theme of the world Day - "Social communications for a Christian promotion of youth" - echoes the initiative of the United Nations, which has proclaimed 1985 as the "Intemational Year of Youth". The instruments of social communication, which are "capable of extending almost infinitely the area over which it is possible to make the word of God heard" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 45), can effectively contribute towards young people's realization of their personal vocation as persons and as Christians, through a free and responsible choice, thus preparing them to be the builders and leaders of tomorrow's society.

Instruments for the service if humanity

1984 - 18th World Communications Day

MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XVIII WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

Theme: Social Communication: Instruments of Encounter between Faith and Culture

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

1. Desired by the Second Vatican Council to "make the Church's multiple apostolate in the field of social communication more effective" (Decree Inter Mirifica, no. 18), this annual Day, which is being celebrated for the eighteenth time, has the scope of ever better educating the faithful in their duties in such an important sector. On this occasion, in the first place I Wish to exhort each of you to join me in prayer that the world of social communication, with its operators and multitude of receivers, may faithfully carry out its function in the service of truth, freedom and the promotion of the whole man in all people.

The theme chosen for this eighteenth day is of great importance:

Social Communications, Instrument of Encounter between Faith and Cutture. Culture, faith and communication are three realities among which a relationship is established on which depend the present and the future of our civilization, which is called to express itself ever more fully in its planetary dimension.

1983 - 17th World Communications Day

MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XVII WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

Theme: Social Communications and the Promotion of Peace

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ,

1. The promotion of peace: this is the theme proposed for your reflection on the World Day of Social communications in the present year. A theme of extreme importance and of vibrating topicality.

In a world whose various elements have become ever more interdependent, thanks to the spectacular progress and rapid expansion of the mass media, communication and information today represent a force which can very powerfully serve the great and noble cause of peace, but which can equally aggravate tensions and favour new forms of injustice and of violations of human rights.

Fully conscious of the role of those engaged in social communications, I believed it to be necessary, in my recent Message for the World Day of Peace (1st January 1983) which was on the theme: "The dialogue for Peace, a challenge for our time", to address a special appeal to all who work in the mass media encouraging them to weigh well their responsibility and to put forward with fullest objectivity the rights, problems and mentalities of the two sides, so as to promote understanding and dialogue between groups, countries and civilizations (cfr. n. II).

1982 - Hari Komunikasi Sedunia Ke 16

PESAN

KOMUNIKASI SOSIAL DAN MANUSIA USIA LANJUT

HARI KOMUNIKASI SOSIAL SEDUNIA 1982

Untuk organisasi-organisasi internasional, misalnya Perser­ikatan Bangsa bangsa dan Masyarakat Eropa, tahun 1982 merupakan TAHUN KAUM TUA. Ada usaha di mana-mana untuk merangsang kepri­hatinan umum terhadap masalah-masalah tua, masalah kaum tua dan masalah orang jompo, sebagian dari umat manusia, yang dimensi-dimensinya menjadi lebih luas sebagai akibat dari perpanjangan rentang hidup dalam masa modern ini.

Bapa Suci berbicara tentang Kaum Tua dalam sambutan pada hari Minggu pertama tahun 1982. Ia menyebut kaum tua sebagai satu kategori manusia yang begitu berjasa tetapi kadang-kadang begitu diabaikan. Bapa Suci menyetujui tema tersebut untuk hari Komunikasi Sedunia kali ini. Dengan demikian beliau jelas-jelas bermaksud mendesak supaya komunikator profesional di dalam dan luar Gereja berperan serta dalam memperbaiki keteledoran ini.

1982 - 16th World Communications Day

MESSAGE

OF THE HOLY FATHER

FOR THE XVI WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

Theme: Social Communications and the Problems of the Elderly

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ,

For sixteen years now the Church has been holding this "Day" celebration in which the faithful are invited, in response to a specific direction of the conciliar Decree Inter Mirifica, to engage in prayerful reflection concerning their personal obligations in the important matter of social communications (cf. Inter Mirifica, no. 18). It has been the practice to focus attention on a particular theme for each celebration, while inviting the prayers and offerings of the faithful (idem). ln line with this tradition, it has been my wish that the Day should this year be devoted to the Elderly, gladly adopting the theme on which the United Nations Organization has chosen to concentrate in 1982

1. The problems of the elderly today differ considerably from those with which they had to contend in the past. There is, firstly, the fact that the numbers of old people have been steadily increasing; in countries with a high standard of living the increase is accounted for by the improvement in health services and medical care, by better working conditions and general welfare.

1981 - 15th World Communications Day

MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XV WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

Theme: Social Communications and Responsible human Freedom

Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

The XV World Communications Day has as its theme: "Social Communications in the service of responsible human freedom". Tho this important subject I intend to devote this message, which I address lovingly to the sons of the Catholic Church and to all men of good will.

1. In the continual expansion and progress of the mass media we can discern a sign of the times, which constitutes an immense potential for universal understanding and a strengthening of the grounds for peace and brotherhood among the nations.

Pius XII, of venerable memory, very rightly spoke, in the Encyclical Miranda Prorsus, of 8 September 1957, of these media, classifying them as "wonderful inventions of which our age is proud", and seeing in them a gift of God. The Decree lnter Mirifica of the II Vatican Ecumenical Council, confirming this view, stressed the possibilities of these media, which "by their very nature are able to reach and move not only individuals, but even multitudes and the whole of human society".

1980 - 14th World Communications Day

MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XIV WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY 

Theme: Social Communications and Family

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

It is in obedience to a direction of the Second Vatican Council that the Catholic Church celebrates (on the 18th of May) the World Day of Social Communications. In one of its first Documents, the Council ordered that a day should be set aside each year in all the dioceses of the world, and that on that special day the faithful should pray for a particular intention, namely, that the Church's work in the field of communications might be effective. In addition, each one was to reflect on his own duties regarding the communications media and to make a contribution for the support of the Church's social communications establishments and undertakings.

In the years since the Council's Decree on the Social Communications Media, the World Day has come to be an increasingly important event in the Church's life. In many countries, Catholics have been joined by the members of other Christian communities in the celebration; a practical manifestation of solidarity admirably in keeping with the ecumenical principle "not to do separately what we can do together". Let us thank God for it.

This year, in harmony with the theme of the coming Synod of Bishops which will be considering the problems confronting the family in the changed circumstances of modern times, we are invited to focus our reflection on the relationship between the mass media and the family. One circumstance which intimately affects all families today is the prevalence of the social communications media: the press, the cinema, the radio, and television. It is a rare home indeed to which entry has not been gained by one or other of these. Where once, not very long ago, the family consisted of parents and children with the addition, perhaps, of a relative or two or a servant, now the circle is, in a sense, extended to admit the more or less permanent "company" of announcers, newsreaders, entertainers, commentators on sport and current affairs, with frequent visits as well from famous and influential people of every nationality, persuasion and profession.