Vatican Dicastery Communication program inspires a young Filipino's perspective on media ministry

Cindy Gorospe, a young Filipino who serves as the Social Media Coordinator for Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), disclosed that her engagement in the Vatican Dicastery for Communication's training program has broadened her media ministry perspective.

“I was given the opportunity to join these faith communicators as one of the two representatives for the Philippines. Since May 2023, we have been conducting online workshops and meetings, and seeing these people in person for our residential week in Rome has opened a window of discernment about my work in the media ministry,” Gorospe told RVA.

As an integral component of the 'Faith Communication in the Digital World' training program, Gorospe participated in the residential week in Rome from September 25 to October 2 as one of the communicators.

The majority of this year's participants are from Africa and Asia, including Vietnam, East Timor, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nigeria, Kenya, Mongolia, Thailand, and Brazil.

As a member of a Catholic faith-majority country, her meeting with other youth communicators from various diverse nations, some of whom shared their difficulties in expressing their faith due to particular circumstances, was eye-opening.

“Having been raised in a Christian country like the Philippines, I never realized that while I could enjoy expressing and practicing my faith, people in other parts of the world feared for their lives by simply praying to their God," Gorospe said.

The aforementioned religious encounters imparted to her the insight that the Catholic faith ought not to be taken for granted.

“Hearing stories of faith communicators from other countries with minimal tolerance of Catholicism made me aware of how I sometimes take for granted the freedom I have here in the Philippines working as a faith communicator,” Gorospe said.

Sixteen young communicators from around the world are invited by the Dicastery every year to take part in a "learning by doing" experience at the synodal level about how to share faith online through mutual listening and discussion.

She also wishes to extend her discernment to other lay people working for the church, regardless of their ministry, as well as to Filipino Catholics, encouraging them to continue to express God's love through whatever forms of communication.

 “May you also appreciate the gift of faith; you can freely express and use that privilege of sharing the love and mercy of God in any medium you have,” she concluded. 

On Wednesday, September 27, they visited the four papal Basilicas, the headquarters of Vatican Radio, Vatican News, and the Vatican Museums, and greeted Pope Francis at the end of the general audience.

For the past years, the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, through their program ‘Faith Communication in the Digital World', has welcomed professional communicators from all around the world to experience “learning by doing” through mutual listening and sharing how to communicate faith in the digital world.