Pope Francis thanks Vatican-accredited journalists for their “constancy and patience”

Pope Francis, in his meeting on January 22 with members of the International Association of Journalists Accredited to the Vatican, thanked them for their “constancy and patience” in building “bridges of knowledge and communication instead of divisions and diffidence,” according to Vatican News.

He mentioned Luigi Accattoli, 80, who wrote that despite the challenges of being a Vaticanista, it has been a beautiful encouragement to love humanity and to learn humility.

Pope Francis recognized that the journalists, with their passion for news,  have traveled with him on his Apostolic Journeys in different countries and apologized that the Holy Father had “taken them away from their families, from playing with their children, and from spending time with their husbands or wives.”

He noted that being a journalist is a vocation, something like that of a doctor, “who chooses to love humanity by caring for its illnesses” because they “choose to personally touch the wounds of society and the world.”

Pope Francis also recalled a warning that Pope St. Paul VI had issued to the media following his election and looked forward to the continuation of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope St. Paul VI emphasized that service should consider the Church's religious and moral purposes, as well as its unique spiritual qualities, rather than being guided by secular and political categories.

In his prepared speech, Pope Francis thanked the Vatican journalists for "the delicacy they often show in speaking about the scandals of the Church," with respect for the victims.

He said the work requires “subtlety of spirit” and journalistic skills, “with testimony, even before using words,” to communicate Vatican events.

The Vatican reporter’s task “lies in not hiding reality and its miseries, not sugarcoating the tensions, but at the same time not creating unnecessary noise, rather striving to capture the essential in light of the nature of the Church,” said Pope Francis. -(MTV)