Telling Truth with Love
🎙️ World Communications Day: Telling Truth with Love
June 1, 2025
Each year, the Catholic Church celebrates World Communications Day, a day dedicated to reflecting on the power of media and its vital role in shaping a more just, compassionate, and informed world. Instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1967, this observance is now held annually on the Sunday before Pentecost, making today, June 1, 2025, a meaningful occasion for media professionals, communicators, and all people of faith and goodwill.
🌱 Origins of World Communications Day
The seeds of this day were sown during the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), a pivotal moment of modernization and outreach in the Church. In the Council’s decree Inter Mirifica (Among the Wonders), the Church recognized the growing influence of the media—print, radio, film, and later digital platforms—as tools not just of entertainment, but of education, evangelization, and truth-sharing.
Following this, Pope Paul VI initiated World Communications Day in 1967 as a way to engage thoughtfully with these tools. It was one of the first religious observances in the world to focus specifically on media and communication.
🎯 Purpose: Truth, Dialogue, and Human Dignity
World Communications Day is not simply about celebrating media—it is about using media responsibly and ethically. It invites journalists, content creators, social media users, and communicators of all kinds to reflect on how they share information, tell stories, and influence public thought.
The Church uses this day to:
- Promote truthful and compassionate communication
- Encourage media to uphold human dignity
- Highlight the importance of dialogue over division
- Recognize the vocation of communicators as storytellers of hope
Each year, the Pope issues a special message ahead of this day, offering insights on timely themes such as disinformation, digital connectivity, or communication in times of crisis.
For 2025, the theme is:
“Speaking the Truth in Love: Communicating with the Heart”
📡 Means of Observance
Churches, dioceses, and Catholic media outlets around the world mark this day with:
- Special Masses or prayer services for journalists and media workers
- Workshops and webinars on ethical journalism and media literacy
- Publications and broadcasts featuring the Pope’s annual message
- Social media campaigns promoting positive communication
- Awards and recognitions for outstanding Catholic communicators
Educators also take the opportunity to teach young people about responsible digital citizenship, fact-checking, and storytelling rooted in truth.
🎨 Suggested Activities for Families & Communities
- 🎥 Host a film screening and discuss its message
- 📰 Create a parish or family newsletter
- 🗣️ Interview an elder or community leader and share their story online
- 📖 Write letters of thanks to journalists or media workers who inspire you
- 📸 Start a photo or video project around the theme “Telling the Truth in Love”
📜 A Poem for World Communications Day
Let truth be wrapped in tender grace,
And words not race, but hold their place.
A voice that listens, not just speaks,
Can lift the silent, guard the weak.
In screens that flicker, let us see—
A world of hope and unity.
📌 Did You Know?
- World Communications Day is the only worldwide celebration called for by a Vatican council.
- The first theme in 1967 was “Social Communications and the Church.”
- The Pope’s message for this day is often published on January 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers and journalists.
In a time of information overload and digital noise, World Communications Day reminds us of the sacred duty to communicate with clarity, care, and conscience. It’s a call not just to professionals, but to each of us who hold a platform, however small, in the vast media landscape.
Happy Celebration!
