VATICAN - POPE SAYS AT REGINA CAELI HYMN: BY VIRTUE OF THEIR VOCATION AND PROFESSION MEDIA WORKERS ARE CALLED TO BE PEACE MAKERS

Vatican City (Fides Service) – “In many countries today it is the Solemnity of the Ascension” the Pope said from his window on St Peter’s Square when he came to recite the midday Regina Caeli Prayer with people gathered in St Peter’s Square on Sunday June 1. “The Ascension is the final moment of Christ’s Passover which St John the Evangelist describes it as passing . He desires to lead the whole of humanity to the One heavenly Father, .”
The Pope then mentioned the Church’s World Communications Day, in many countries celebrated on the Ascension, for which this year he chose the theme: “The means of communications at the service of authentic peace, in the light of the Pacem in Terris”. “Forty years since the publication of that history making encyclical of Blessed Pope John XXIII – said Pope John Paul II – it is more than ever important to reflect on the role of the media in the construction of a world of peace, founded on truth, justice, love and freedom. In fact the means of social communications can make a valid contribution to peace, removing barriers of diffidence, encouraging understanding and reciprocal respect and, much more, foster reconciliation and mercy. It is therefore by virtue of their vocation and profession that media workers are called to be peace makers. May Mary Most Holy, Star of evangelisation, protect and assist those who work in the field of social communications, especially at the service of the Gospel and the Church”. SL (Fides Service 2/6/2003 EM lines 19 Words: 268)