The world of communication in celebration!

By Martine Kablan On Jan 28, 2025

The world of communication celebrated its jubilee from 24 to 26 January 2025

In an atmosphere of deep joy, expectation and recollection, thousands of communication professionals from some 138 countries gathered in Rome for their Jubilee 2025.

It was a moment of total communion with and around Pope Francis, who encouraged and invited these communication professionals to be true people and bearers of hope.

Three days full of events and meetings

The Jubilee began on Friday 24 January, the memory of St Francis de Sales, with a penitential ceremony in the Basilica of St John Lateran.

Saturday 25 January was the day of the long-awaited pilgrimage to the Holy Door.

Then, in the packed Paul VI Hall of the Vatican, Irish writer Colum McAnn and Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2021, engaged the participants in the passion of a profession built on values, with powerful speeches full of fervour. The long applause and standing ovations at the end of their speeches were significant. They reminded participants of the power of coming together, of uniting to act together.

Then came the highlight: the arrival of the Pope to a happy and enthusiastic hall.

The Pope thanked everyone for their work, despite the difficulties associated with this profession, and especially the ‘colleagues who have signed their service with their blood’. He recalled that communication is ‘an encounter with others’, and that ‘the profession of journalist: it is more than a profession. It is a vocation and a mission. ‘ The Pope went on to say: ’You communicators have a fundamental role to play in society today, in telling the facts and in the way you tell them. We know: language, attitude, tone, can be decisive and make the difference between a communication that rekindles hope, creates bridges, opens doors, and a communication that instead increases divisions, polarisations, simplifications of reality. Yours is a special responsibility. Yours is a precious task. ‘.

In an open format called ‘Dialogues with the City’, various meetings were then held in different areas of Rome, on different topics.

On Sunday 26th, Sunday of the Word of God, the solemn Mass in St Peter’s Basilica marked the conclusion of these three jubilee days dedicated to communication professionals.

Coincidence of the calendar?

It is significant that this series of Jubilee meetings that will take place during the Jubilee year begins with the world of communication. As the Pope said, communication is ‘a vital world’. Information is a powerful weapon. It can be a source of peace, harmony and brotherhood, but unfortunately it can also be a source of conflict and war, and can lead to great atrocities.

So a fundamental question that every communications professional should ask himself in his daily work is: what kind of communicator do I want to be?

Pilgrims of hope

This jubilee has brought to light people of great potential, with immense human values, people who, through their professions, want to do good, want to make a difference.

Let us pray that this network will have an ever stronger voice to assert itself with wisdom and authority in today’s world, where “The right here and now” does not give us time to take a step back to discern information better. A strong and powerful network that can be and remain a beacon of hope for many.

With this Jubilee of Communications, the series of 38 jubilees and major events that will take place in Rome during the Jubilee Year 2025 has begun.

Happy Jubilee 2025 to all.

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Image digitally created by spazio + spadoni
From K. Martine