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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   COMMUNICATE THE GOSPEL CLEARLY AND COURAGEOUSLY   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 13 NOV 2010 (VIS) - At midday today the Holy Father received   
   participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture, who   
   have dedicated their gathering this year to the theme: "The Culture of   
   Communication and New Languages".   
      
   The Pope began by expressing his appreciation for the "original idea" of   
   inaugurating the plenary in Rome's Town Hall "with a round table discussion on   
   the theme of 'In the city, listening to the languages of the soul'. In this   
   way", he said, "the dicastery aimed to give expression to one of its essential   
   tasks, that of listening to the men and women of our time, in order to promote   
   new opportunities for announcing the Gospel".   
      
   In this context the Holy Father also referred to the problems that pastors and   
   faithful encounter "in communicating the evangelical message and transmitting   
   the faith within the ecclesial community itself", especially "when the Church   
   addresses men and women removed from or indifferent to an experience of faith,   
   whom the evangelical message reaches in a way that is ineffective and   
   unattractive. In a world that lays so much emphasis on communications strategy,   
   the Church ... is not indifferent or isolated; quite the contrary, she seeks to   
   use - with renewed creativity, critical sense and careful discernment - the new   
   languages and channels of communication.   
      
   "The incapacity of language to communicate the profound meaning and beauty of   
   the experience of faith can contribute to the indifference of many, especially   
   the young, and can become a reason for abandonment", the Pope added. "The   
   Church wishes to establish dialogue with everyone, in the search for truth. But   
   in order for dialogue and communication to be effective and fruitful it is   
   necessary for people to be on the same wavelength, in places for friendly and   
   sincere encounter, in that ideal 'Court of the Gentiles' which I suggested ...   
   a year ago and which the dicastery is putting into effect in various emblematic   
   fields of European culture".   
      
   Benedict XVI went on: "Today many young people, bemused by the infinite   
   possibilities offered by information networks and other technologies, establish   
   forms of communication that do not contribute to human growth; rather, they   
   risk increasing the sense of solitude and bewilderment. Faced with such   
   phenomena I have spoken on a number of occasions of the educational emergency,   
   a challenge which can and must be answered with creative intelligence,   
   committing ourselves to promote forms of communication which humanise,   
   stimulating the capacity to evaluate and discern".   
      
   Going on then to consider "the rich and intense symbolism of the liturgy, which   
   must shine forth in all its power as an element of communication", the Pope   
   spoke of last Sunday's liturgy at the basilica of the Sagrada Familia in   
   Barcelona, Spain. That building, he said, is the masterpiece of the architect   
   Antoni Gaudi "who brilliantly melded sacred and liturgical meaning into   
   artistic forms that are both modern and in harmony with the finest   
   architectural traditions. Nonetheless, the beauty of Christian life is even   
   more incisive than art and image in communicating the evangelical message", he   
   said.   
      
   The Holy Father concluded by highlighting the need for "men and women who speak   
   through their lives, who can communicate the Gospel clearly and courageously   
   with the transparency of their actions and the joyful passion of their   
   charity".   
   AC/VIS 20101115 (560)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)