"When it comes to the challenges of communication, families who have children
with one or more disabilities have much to teach us. A motor, sensory or
mental limitation can be a reason for closing in on ourselves, but it can also
become, thanks to the love of parents, siblings, and friends, an incentive to
openness, sharing and ready communication with all. It can also help schools,
parishes and associations to become more welcoming and inclusive of everyone.
 "In a world where people often curse, use foul language, speak badly of
others, sow discord and poison our human environment by gossip, the family can
teach us to understand communication as a blessing. In situations apparently
dominated by hatred and violence, where families are separated by stone walls
or the no less impenetrable walls of prejudice and resentment, where there
seem to be good reasons for saying 'enough is enough', it is only by blessing
rather than cursing, by visiting rather than repelling, and by accepting
rather than fighting, that we can break the spiral of evil, show that goodness
is always possible, and educate our children to fellowship.
 "Today the modern media, which are an essential part of life for young people
in particular, can be both a help and a hindrance to communication in and
between families. The media can be a hindrance if they become a way to avoid
listening to others, to evade physical contact, to fill up every moment of
silence and rest, so that we forget that 'silence is an integral element of
communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist'. The media
can help communication when they enable people to share their stories, to stay
in contact with distant friends, to thank others or to seek their forgiveness,
and to open the door to new encounters. By growing daily in our awareness of
the vital importance of encountering others, these 'new possibilities', we
will employ technology wisely, rather than letting ourselves be dominated by
it. Here too, parents are the primary educators, but they cannot be left to
their own devices. The Christian community is called to help them in teaching
children how to live in a media environment in a way consonant with the
dignity of the human person and service of the common good.
 "The great challenge facing us today is to learn once again how to talk to
one another, not simply how to generate and consume information. The latter is
a tendency which our important and influential modern communications media can
encourage. Information is important, but it is not enough. All too often
things get simplified, different positions and viewpoints are pitted against
one another, and people are invited to take sides, rather than to see things
as a whole.
 "The family, in conclusion, is not a subject of debate or a terrain for
ideological skirmishes. Rather, it is an environment in which we learn to
communicate in an experience of closeness, a setting where communication takes
place, a 'communicating community'. The family is a community which provides
help, which celebrates life and is fruitful. Once we realise this, we will
once more be able to see how the family continues to be a rich human resource,
as opposed to a problem or an institution in crisis. At times the media can
tend to present the family as a kind of abstract model which has to be
accepted or rejected, defended or attacked, rather than as a living reality.
Or else a grounds for ideological clashes rather than as a setting where we
can all learn what it means to communicate in a love received and returned.
Relating our experiences means realising that our lives are bound together as
a single reality, that our voices are many, and that each is unique.
 "Families should be seen as a resource rather than as a problem for society.
Families at their best actively communicate by their witness the beauty and
the richness of the relationship between man and woman, and between parents
and children. We are not fighting to defend the past. Rather, with patience
and trust, we are working to build a better future for the world in which we
live".

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 The wisdom of parents must guide children in the digital world
 Vatican City, 23 January 2015 (VIS) - A press conference was held in the Holy
See Press Office this morning in which Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli,
president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and Professor
Chiara Giaccardi of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the Catholic
University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy, presented the Holy Father's
Message for the 49th World Day of Communications, entitled "Communicating the
family: a privileged place of encounter with the gift of love".
 Archbishop Celli explained, "From this text there emerges a positive overall
message, given that the Pope affirms that the family continues to be a great
resource and not merely a problem or an institution in crisis. As we can see,
the Pope is not interested principally in the problem between the family and
communication linked to new technologies. He instead focuses on the most
profoundly true and human dimension of communication".
 The message affirms, he continued, that the family "has the capacity to
communicate itself and to communicate, by virtue of the bond that links its
various members", and he noted that "a paragraph is dedicated to prayer,
defined as a fundamental form of communication that finds in the family its
truest environment of discovery and experience".
 "In this context", he added, forgiveness is understood "as a dynamic of
communication, since when contrition is expressed and accepted, it becomes
possible to restore and rebuild the communication which broke down". He also
remarked that a long paragraph is devoted to the most modern media and their
influence on communication in and among families, both as a help and a
hindrance. He noted that the text clearly restates what has already been
underlined in the teachings of St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. "But it
is important to rediscover yet again that the parents are the first educators
of their children, who are increasingly present in the digital sphere. The
presence of parents does not have a primarily technological dimension -
generally children know more than their parents in this field - but is
important on account of the wisdom they contribute".
 "It is well-known that one of the great risks is that children or teenagers
may isolate themselves in a 'virtual world', significantly reducing their
necessary integration in real everyday life and in the interrelationships of
friendship. This is not to say that the relationships of affection or
friendship that develop in the context of the web are not real. It must also
be remembered that the young - and the not so young - are called upon to give
witness to Christ in the digital world too, in the social networks we all
inhabit".

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 Decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
 Vatican City, 23 January 2015 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father
Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect
of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the
Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
 MIRACLES
 - attributed to the Venerable Servant of God Maria Teresa Casini, Italian
foundress of the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1864-1937);
 MARTYRDOM
 - Servants of God Fidela (nee Dolores Oller Angelats) and two companions,
Spanish professed nuns of the Institute of Sisters of St. Joseph, killed in
hatred of the faith in Spain between 26 and 29 August 1936;
 - Servants of God Pio Heredia Zubia and seventeen companions, of the
Trappists of Cantabria and the Cistercian nuns of the Congregation of St.
Bernard, killed in hatred of the faith in Spain in 1936;
 - Servant of God Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa (ne Bakali), South
African layperson, killed in hatred of the faith in South Africa on 2 February
1990.
 HEROIC VIRTUES
 - Servant of God Ladislao Bukowinski, Ukrainian diocesan priest (1904-1974);
 - Servant of God Aloysius Schwartz, American diocesan priest, founder of the
Sisters of Mary of Banneux and the Brothers of Christ (1930-1992);
 - Servant of God Cointa Jauregui Oses, Spanish professed nun of the Company
of Mary Our Lady (1875-1954);
 - Servant of God Teresa Gardi, Italian layperson of the Third Order of St.
Francis (1769-1837);
 - Servant of God Luis De Trelles y Nuogerol, Spanish layperson and founder of
the Nocturnal Adoration Society in Spain (1819-1891);
 - Servant of God Elisabeth Maria (nee Erizabe-to Maria) Satoko Kitahara,
Japanese layperson (1929-1958);
 - Servant of God Virginia Blanco Tardio, Bolivian layperson (1916-1990).

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 Audiences
 Vatican City, 23 January 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in
audience:
 - Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy;
 - Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith;
 - Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto, dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota;
 - College of the Prelate Auditors of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota;
 - Maja Marija Lovrencic Svetek, ambassador of Slovenia, on her farewell visit.
 Yesterday, Thursday 22 January, the Holy Father received in audience Cardinal
Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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