On Thursday, November 28, the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome is organizing a seminar 20 years after the publication of "Communication and Mission", the Directory of the Italian Bishops' Conference on social communications in the mission of the Church. The Document was born in a historical context in which people were beginning to speak of the professionalization of communication and it was a decisive impetus for many ecclesiastical realities to begin to invest in this field.
Two decades later, we take stock with Massimiliano Padula, a sociologist of cultural and communicative processes who teaches Social Communication Sciences at the Lateran University, to understand what impact this document can still have on the ecclesial realities of other countries.
Where did the idea of "celebrating" the 20th anniversary of a pioneering document related to Church communication come from?
- The event arose from a twofold need. First of all, to reflect on the pastoral intention that determined the impulse to think it up, write it and publish it: to offer the ecclesial realities an opportunity to refocus on the role of the social communicationsbut also in the changes that were taking place in the contemporary world at that time. The desire of the Italian bishops was to foster a real change of mentality and disposition in the way of perceiving and living the mission in the Church in the context oriented by the media culture.
The second need concerns its updating in the contemporary digital world, and this concerns not only Italy, but the universal Church. In 2004, despite the progressive spread of the Internet, the media scene was characterized predominantly by what we now call "traditional media". Television, radio, newspapers and publishing houses continued to have a profound impact on public opinion.
Today, with the web, national differences are much less evident and it is therefore necessary to develop integrated and global communication projects and processes that, although with the necessary adaptations, are aimed at all ecclesial realities.
What innovations were decisive for the organizations involved in communication at the ecclesiastical level?
- Anyone in Italy who has been involved in religious communications has probably "encountered" the Directory, studied it and more or less put its guidelines into practice. It has then gone beyond Italian borders to become - also for other churches - a source of inspiration and a model for thinking Christianly and designing effective communication practices.
The main innovation is, therefore, to have given theological-pastoral dignity to communication. For many years now, in fact, the Catholic world (bishops' conferences, dioceses, religious communities) has been investing in communication, implementing many of the initiatives envisaged in the Document. These include renewing catechesis and education in the faith, supporting technological formation, improving the synergy between national and local media, regenerating parish halls, and outlining the profile of the so-called "animator of culture and communication".
The latter, in particular, represented an important novelty: it is a true "ministry" which, together with the recognized roles of catechist, animator of the liturgy and charity, is responsible for coordinating the pastoral care of culture and communication in dioceses, parishes and religious communities.
In 20 years, the communication scenario has changed profoundly. What perspectives does the Yearbook need to update?
- Although I believe that the time may have come for its revision, I am also convinced that, at present, the word "yearbook" has lost some of its effectiveness. In fact, it refers to something established, indicative, not very flexible. The same can be said of decalogues or manifestos, which certainly have worthy propositions, but run the risk of reducing good ideas and practices to mere slogans. This is even more evident in today's digital universe, which is difficult to intercept, understand and delimit.
Consequently, I believe that today the universal Church, put to the test by contingencies such as secularization, more than proposing ideal precepts, should favor a cultural itinerary that helps the faithful to understand the times, places, languages and codes of digital culture.
And this can be done by framing digital pastoral care not as a specific pastoral area, but as a transversal dimension of ecclesial action. Today, in fact, digital does not only mean communication, but "touches" liturgy, catechesis, youth, family, the social sphere, the teaching of religion and everything that a Church lives as a service to the people of God.
Finally, a reflection on digital culture and artificial intelligence. How can parishes, dioceses, religious communities and national churches live these new processes to evangelize and build the common good?
- In his Message for the 53rd World Communications Day 2019, Pope Francis wrote how fundamental it is to move - when it comes to social networks - from diagnosis to therapy, preferring to the ephemeral logic of like that of amen, founded on truth and "with which each one adheres to the Body of Christ, welcoming others."
So, it is all very well to create possibilities and interrelationships with these topics, just as it is important to be trained in them, but I believe that today, one of the tasks of the church as an institution, but also of every woman and man of good will, is to become aware again of the Grace of humanity itself and to reaffirm its beauty even in online spaces or algorithmic programming.
