Pope Francis has announced the theme for the 2025, World Communication Day (WCD). The theme is, “Share with gentleness the hope that is in your hearts” (cf. 1Pt 3:15-16).
e the 59th World Communication Day is scheduled for Sunday 1st June, 2025. The Holy Father says Christians and non-Christians alike, should re-examine the way they communicate with one other.
According to Vatican News, Pope Francis desires through the theme to draw attention to the violence currently prevalent in communication.
He said, “too often communication is violent, aimed at striking and not at establishing the conditions for dialogue.” In view of this, the Bishop of Rome rallies efforts “to disarm communication, (and) to cleanse it of aggression.”
Furthermore, the theme aims at correcting the falling standard of communication which the Holy Father describes as largely absorbed in competition, opposition, and domination. This, he said, is evident in television talk shows and verbal wars on social media.
Additionally, he said the theme should remind Christians that “hope is a person, and He is Christ,” and that this hope is not just an individual experience, but is tied to community, since “when we speak of Christian hope we cannot disregard a community that lives the message of Jesus in such a credible way as to give a glimpse of the hope that it brings, and is capable of communicating the hope of Christ with deeds and words even today.”
The World Communication Day was established by Pope Paul VI in 1967, and it is usually celebrated on the Sunday before Pentecost. It is an annual celebration that encourages reflection on the opportunities and challenges that the media offers and how the Church can better engage the tools to communicate the Gospel message in every age.
In Nigeria, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), has elaborated this WCD celebration to a week-long media literacy programme – Communications Week (Comweek). It begins on the Sunday prior to WCD and concludes on WCD Sunday. The 2025, edition which will begin on Sunday, May 25, will conclude with the WCD celebration on Sunday, June 1st. This will be the 4th edition of the week-long programme.
During the programme, participants, including parishes, pastoral units, seminaries, convents, and Catholic families, are encouraged to engage with the teachings provided in the manual from the National Directorate of Social Communications in Nigeria.
