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Pope Francis’ Intention of Prayer for the month of June 2018 invites us "to take advantage of the opportunities of meeting and solidarity offered by social networks" and asks that the digital network “may not be a place of alienation. May it be a concrete place, a place rich in humanity.” In the video message, the Pope emphasizes the importance to “pray together that social networks may work towards that inclusiveness which respects others for their differences.”

All communication and its media show who I am, how I see myself as a person and how I see others. In some way we become transparent: we reveal what everyone believes, thinks, feels, and values. We are called as human beings to be true to ourselves by presenting ourselves in digital media; not to pretend, or to say what we do not believe in or experience ourselves. We convey what we carry in our hearts, and thus we are enriched by sharing with others in the networks.

Benedict XVI, in his 2013 message for Social Communications Day, said: "the people involved in social media must make an effort to be authentic since, in these spaces, it is not only ideas and information that are shared, but ultimately our very selves… The networks are increasingly becoming part of the very fabric of society, in as much as they bring people together on the basis of these fundamental needs. Social networks are thus nourished by aspirations rooted in the human heart.”

Those of us who use these spaces are called to nourish and share our motivations, concerns, hopes, satisfactions, and what gives meaning and encouragement to our lives.

This is what will make communication and relationships true, in the deepest sense of this adjective: what really makes us people, allows us to value our dignity, helps us open up to others and what is transcendent, and shows the full meaning of our lives. That is why communication in the digital network can be "a concrete place, rich in humanity".

Luis García Orso, S.J.
Mexico, June 20, 2018