World Communications Day was established by Pope Paul VI in 1967 to celebrate the achievements of the communications media and to encourage us to reflect on the opportunities and challenges for the Church in communicating the Gospel today, especially through social media.
It is celebrated on the Sunday before Pentecost (17 May) and the theme for this year’s World Communications Day, chosen by Pope Leo XIV, is ‘Preserving Human Voices and Faces’. In his Message, the Pope highlights the importance of ensuring that technological innovation, particularly artificial intelligence, serves the human person rather than replacing or diminishing human dignity.
Human beings, the Pope recalls, are created in the image and likeness of God and called into relationship through the Word. Preserving human faces and voices, therefore, means preserving the divine imprint present in each person and upholding the irreplaceable vocation of every human life.
“Preserving human faces and voices, therefore, means preserving this mark, this indelible reflection of God’s love. We are not a species composed of predefined biochemical formulas. Each of us possesses an irreplaceable and inimitable vocation, that originates from our own lived experience and becomes manifest through interaction with others,” he writes.
You can read the Pope’s Message in full here: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/communications/documents/20260124-messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html
