VATICAN (CNS): The work of journalists is to listen and convey the truth of what was really said, Pope Francis told Tertio, a Belgium-based Dutch-language Catholic weekly magazine.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank, through you, all journalists for their work. It is a noble profession: to convey the truth,” the pope said in the interview.
The lengthy interview, which took place on 19 December 2022, in Spanish, was published online in Dutch at tertio.be on February 28; L’Osservatore Romano published an Italian translation of the interview the same day.
Pope Francis said that the tasks of a journalist are “listening, translating and dissemination” with listening being the key first step.
“There are journalists who are brilliant because they say clearly, ‘I listened, he said this, even though I think the opposite’,” the pope said, adding, “You should not say, ‘He said thi,’,” when that was not what was said.
“Listen, report the message and then criticise. Journalists are doing a tremendous job,” he said.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank, through you, all journalists for their work. It is a noble profession: to convey the truth
Pope Francis
Reminded about an open letter that was signed by dozens of journalists and sent to him last year asking that St. Titus Brandsma, a Dutch Carmelite priest, journalist and martyr, be made a patron saint of journalists, Pope Francis was asked if the request had any chance of being considered.
“I completely agree with this proposal,” the pope said, adding that there was another saint who also would be appropriate, referring to St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest, journalist and martyr, who was arrested on charges of aiding Jewish refugees and the Polish resistance during World War II.
Pope Francis said that he would contact the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints “to see what is possible. It would certainly be my pleasure.”
Asked about the Second Vatican Council and why its implementation is “so close to your heart,” the pope said, “Historians say it takes a century for the decisions of a council to take full effect and be implemented. So we still have 40 years to go. I am so committed to the council because that event was actually a visit of God to his Church.”
The council “is not just a question of renewal, but also a challenge to make the Church more and more alive. The council does not renew, it rejuvenates the Church” without losing her “age-old wisdom,” he explained.
“The Church is a mother who is always moving forward. The council opened the door to greater maturity, more in tune with the signs of the times,” he said.
Historians say it takes a century for the decisions of a council to take full effect and be implemented. So we still have 40 years to go. I am so committed to the council because that event was actually a visit of God to his Church
Pope Francis
“The structure of the Church, the traditional—if correctly understood—is always modern. This is because tradition continues to develop and grow,” Pope Francis said. “From the root we always continue to grow. The council took such a step forward, without cutting off the root, because that is not possible if you want to produce fruit.”
Asked about his hope for and aim with the current synodal process, the pope recalled how Pope St. Paul VI noted the Church in the West “had almost lost its synodal dimension, while the Eastern Catholic Churches had been able to preserve it.”
Pope Paul established the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in order to promote synodality in the Church again, Pope Francis said, and “over the past 60 years, this has become more and more pervasive.”
Some questions are finding more clarity, he said, for example, whether only bishops had the right to vote. “Sometimes it was not clear whether women could vote. At the latest Synod on the Amazon in 2019, spirits were maturing in that direction.”
The current synodal process and the two synods on synodality, he said, “will help us clarify the meaning and this methodology of decision-making in the Church.”
The synod is not “a parliament,” but is a gathering of believers who take time for prayer so the Holy Spirit can help, he said.
It is a meeting of people of faith, “led by the Holy Spirit, but equally tempted and seduced by the evil spirit,” he said.
