Thoughts on How to Creatively Communicate What the Family is

From April 28th to 30th, the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in
Rome hosted its 9^th Professional Seminar for Church
Communication Offices.

At this event, the academic and professional worlds met to discuss and
analyze the communicative paths taken by the Catholic Church, as well as
its new prospects. This year’s theme was Creative Strategies for Cultural Change.

In total, the Conference brought together 400 communication professionals
from over 60 countries. One of its central topics was the family. This is
more than chance, since it is well known that the family occupies a place
of priority in the “agenda” of Pope Francis.

The speech given by Helen Alvaré from George Mason University was
particularly powerful. It focused on decoding and defending the basic
concepts of human identity, a central issue in many debates over recent
years. Here is the full translation of her talk (

Link to the full text of the discussion

).

Another interesting discussion was offered by Cardinal Philippe Barbarin,
Archbishop of Lyon. He spoke about the origins and development of the
French popular movement “ Le Manif pour tous” in
defense of the family.

Closing the conference, Joaquín Navarro-Valls gave a lucid and heartfelt
testimony on the figure of Saint John Paul II, the “Pope of the family” as
Pope Francis called him in the ceremony of his canonization, and whose to
his intercession he also entrusted the works of the next Synod on the
family.