Pope Francis on May 1, 2018, marked the 50th anniversary of Avvenire, the Catholic Newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. In honor of the occasion, he received members of the publications staff and their families in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.
May 1 being the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker, the Pope cited his as a model for evangelizing through communications. One of his key skills: listening. By listening to God, he faced difficulties without question and fulfilled his mission in caring for Jesus.
“The media offer us enormous potential to contribute, with our pastoral service, to the culture of the encounter,” the Holy Father said. “To focus on this mission, we enter a moment together in the carpenter’s workshop; let’s go back to the school of St. Joseph, where communication is brought back to truth, beauty, and goodness.”
Pope Francis was featured in an extensive interview in Avvenire in November 2016.
Avvenire was founded in 1968 in Milan through the merger of two earlier Catholic magazines. Pope Paul VI strongly supported the daily and wanted a common cultural medium for Italian Catholics. Throughout its history, Avvenire has maintained this characteristic, increasing its coverage of civil society and extended the parts of the newspaper devoted to cultural debate. Today, it has an extensive website and digital versions.
Avvenire is part of the Italian bishops’ communication network that includes Sir News Agency, Tv2000 and Radio InBlu.
