"We think of the issue of vaccines, as well as of medical care in general, of the risk of exclusion of the most destitute populations - says the Pope in the Message for the Day of Social Communications:" Who will tell us about the expectation of recovery in the poorest villages of the Asia, Latin America and Africa?
Thus the social and economic differences on a planetary level risk marking the order of distribution of anti-Covid vaccines.
With the ever-last poor and the right to health for all, affirmed in principle, emptied of its real value "." But even in the world of the most fortunate - adds Francis - the social drama of families who have rapidly slipped into poverty remains largely hidden part: they hurt and do not make too much news the people who, overcoming shame, queue in front of the Caritas centers to receive a package of food ".
"We are all responsible for the communication we do, for the information we give, for the control we can exercise together over false news, unmasking them. We are all called to be witnesses of the truth: to go, see and share".
Thus the Pope, on the "risks of a social communication without verification", in which "news and even images are easily manipulated", "even if only for banal narcissism".
Without "demonizing the tool", "a greater capacity for discernment" and "a more mature sense of responsibility are needed, both when spreading and receiving content".
Speaking of the "opportunities and pitfalls on the web" in his Message for the 55th World Communications Day, Pope Francis underlines that "the web, with its countless social expressions, can multiply the capacity for narration and sharing: many eyes plus open to the world, a continuous flow of images and testimonies ".
"Digital technology - he continues - gives us the possibility of first-hand and timely information, at times very useful: let's think of certain emergencies in which the first news and even the first service communications to the populations travel right on the web" .
"It is a formidable tool - he adds -, which makes us all responsible as users and as users".
"Potentially we can all become witnesses of events that would otherwise be neglected by traditional media, give our civil contribution, bring out more stories, even positive ones - he concludes -. Thanks to the network we have the opportunity to tell what we see, what happens under the our eyes, to share testimonies ".
"In communication, nothing can ever completely replace seeing in person. Some things can only be learned by experiencing them. In fact, one does not communicate only with words, but with the eyes, with the tone of voice, with gestures", he says. Pope Francis in his Message for the World Communications Day.
"The word is effective only if you 'see' - he adds -, only if it involves you in an experience, in a dialogue. For this reason the 'come and see was and is essential. Let's think about how much empty eloquence abounds also in our time, in every area of public life, in commerce as in politics ".
"In order to tell the truth of life becoming history, it is necessary to leave the comfortable presumption of the 'already known' and get moving, go and see, be with people, listen to them, collect the suggestions of reality, which will always surprise us in some of its aspects ".
This is what Pope Francis affirms in his Message for the 55th World Communications Day, which this year is celebrated on May 16, on the theme "'Come and see' (Jn 1:46). Communicating by meeting people where and how they are ".
"I therefore wish to dedicate the Message, this year, to the call to 'come and see' - explains the Pontiff -, as a suggestion for every communicative expression that wants to be clear and honest: in the editing of a newspaper as in the world of the web, in ordinary preaching of the Church as in political or social communication ".
"'Come and see' - he adds - is the way in which the Christian faith was communicated, starting from those first meetings on the banks of the Jordan River and the Lake of Galilee".
"Even journalism, as a story of reality, requires the ability to go where no one goes: a move and a desire to see. A curiosity, an openness, a passion", says the Pope in the Message for the 55th World Day of Social Communications.
"We must thank the courage and commitment of so many professionals - journalists, cameramen, editors, directors who often work at great risks - if today we know, for example, the difficult condition of the persecuted minorities in various parts of the world; if many abuses and injustices against the poor and against creation have been denounced; if so many forgotten wars have been told ".
"It would be a loss not only for information, but for the whole of society and for democracy if these voices were to fail: an impoverishment for our humanity", warns Francis.
According to the Pontiff, "many realities of the planet, even more in this time of pandemic, are inviting the world of communication to 'come and see'. There is the risk of recounting the pandemic, and thus every crisis, only with the eyes of the richer world, to keep 'double accounts' ".
"Let us think of the great theme of information", says the Pope in the Message for the 55th World Communications Day.
"Attentive voices - he continues - have long complained about the risk of a flattening in 'photocopy newspapers' or in TV and radio news and websites that are essentially the same, where the genre of the investigation and reportage lose space and quality to the advantage of pre-packaged information , 'of the palace', self-referential, which is less and less able to intercept the truth of things and the concrete life of people, and no longer knows how to grasp either the most serious social phenomena or the positive energies that are released from the base of society ".
According to the Pontiff, "the publishing crisis risks leading to information built up in newsrooms, in front of computers, at agency terminals, on social networks, without ever going out on the street, without 'wearing out the soles of shoes', without meeting people to look for stories or verify certain situations 'face to face'. "
"If we do not open up to the meeting - he adds -, we remain external spectators, despite the technological innovations that have the ability to put us in front of an augmented reality in which we seem to be immersed".
"Every tool is useful - Francis continues - and valuable only if it pushes us to go and see things that otherwise we would not know, if it puts on the net knowledge that otherwise would not circulate, if it allows meetings that otherwise would not happen".
For the Pope, "the 'come and see' is the simplest method to know a reality. It is the most honest verification of every announcement, because in order to know one must meet, allow the person in front of me to speak to me, let his testimony reach me ".