A signal from Sibiu

“A great effort of communication” is needed to build a Europe of peoples, cultures and openness to the world. This commitment – writes Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini in his book “Effatà. Apriti” (1990) – closely touches the life of the Churches: it is a commitment of ecumenical communication”.”Ecumenical collaboration can be achieved in all the fields of social communication: it is by its very nature a witness offered to the world”, writes the Pontifical Council of Social Communications in the document dedicated to the criteria of ecumenical and interfaith collaboration in the media (1989).These are just some of the thoughts on the theme of “communication and ecumenism” that I wished to bring to the attention of the meeting of the spokespersons of the European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) with the representatives of the media of other European Christian Churches (CEC) held in Sibiu in the context of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly (4-9 September).It was the first experience of its kind and, even if of brief duration, can undoubtedly be placed among the positive results of the assembly, especially in terms of the prospects it opens for the future.What’s now needed is to continue the process and find ways and occasions of developing the dialogue, and exchanging experiences in the individual Christian Churches, in the European ecclesial organizations and in the international bodies coordinating the media.In the meantime it’s important and useful to grasp the value of this first short step.With a particular attention to language.Today far more attention and sensitivity are paid to the information that one Christian Church devotes to another, beginning with doctrinal and theological questions.The differences remain, but the culture of seriousness is growing. Superficiality, hasty judgements and prejudices are things of the past; they belong only to those who have been left behind by history and who remain on the sidelines of a changing reality.Experiences of dialogue and sharing at the territorial level are being increasingly reported in the Christian media: it’s not only the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that makes news. Shared commitments to peace, the creation, human rights and justice are increasingly filling the news bulletins of the Christian media, and this means, among other things, we have greater access to the secular media by proposing a shared commitment and a shared message.That does not mean we should ignore or underestimate our differences – at Sibiu too these were manifest – on the major themes of life, the family, secularism, and so on.On these complex frontiers, nonetheless, the tone is changing and the effort to keep high the level of dialogue on what’s essential is growing.It doesn’t seem out of place to say here that a significant contribution comes from professional ethics, which with their code of rules and values form a fundamental and indispensable premise also in ecumenical communication.The ethics of our profession form the basis of information that is conscious of and responsible for the power of the word and of the image.As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, an echo of this can be found in the abovementioned document of the Pontifical Council, where it is asserted that there must be “on the part of the Catholic services of communication, and of those who work in them, the duty to provide reliable and objective information on the ecumenical movement and on the other Churches and Christian communities. This task should never prevent us from presenting in fullness what it is that is specific about the Catholic message. Yet a deeper knowledge of the various religious confessions and of the various Christian churches and ecclesial communities will help foster a dialogue respectful of the identity and truth of each”.This signal, among others, has come out of Sibiu: Europe will grow also thanks to a renewed ecumenical communication.