What Will the Future of the Church Be?

To think that a simple Catholic like me could answer this question exactly would be truly presumptuous, but I am going to explain what I lived through these days in Rome, and especially in Saint Peter’s Square on May 1 at the beatification of John Paul II, in order to frame a fitting answer. Perhaps it is that feminine intuition the new Blessed spoke of in his Letter to Women that leads me today to say what I believe the future of the Catholic Church may be.

Describing in words what those of us in Saint Peter’s Square experienced that day will be a little difficult. My experience was somewhat different, because I was on a terrace with more than a thousand journalists from all over the world. I don’t know whether they had faith or not, but I saw many of them shedding tears. And at the moment the image of John Paul II was unveiled, those of us on the terrace were left “speechless and frozen,” because the gaze of the new Blessed was directed straight at the journalists’ terrace. And I thought: what does this mean? I remembered how important communication was to John Paul II throughout his pontificate. His papacy revolutionized Vatican communications, because he knew that the future of the world depends on messengers and media that communicate great values, so that a more human world can be built.

On the other hand, from the moment I arrived in Rome I was struck by the number of young people I saw. There were hundreds of thousands of young men and women, beautiful, intelligent, joyful, and proud to be Catholic, apostolic and Roman! They prayed and spoke about their faith without embarrassment, with a delightful energy, because they know that to find meaning in their lives the best decision they can make is to live with Christ. John Paul II taught them that when he told them: “Do not be afraid to open the doors to Christ, to let him into your life, because Christ takes nothing away; he gives you EVERYTHING.” Not to mention the hundreds of young priests and nuns I saw, who radiated complete and total happiness.

To conclude, I can say, if my feminine intuition does not deceive me, that today our Holy Catholic Church is more alive and younger than ever. It is a Church that John Paul II knew how (with much work and sacrifice) to purify and set on fire with Love of God (as Benedict XVI continues to do).

And I leave you with the last reflection I made when the figures came in showing that almost two million people were there: what would the future of our Church be if all these Catholics followed the example of the first apostles? They were only 12, and they changed a world that was worse off than this one. Besides, we now have impressive means of communication where, thank God, every day there are more Catholic journalists ready to spread the Truth of our faith and of our Holy Catholic Church. So the answer to the question in the title of this article depends on our commitment to be exemplary, well-formed and courageous Catholics, as the first apostles were, so that we can bring God’s Love and Truth to all people.

And today I want to publicly thank whoever placed the press area on that terrace, so that John Paul II’s penetrating gaze fell on the thousands of journalists who were there. I hope all of us Catholic journalists understand the great mission we hold in our hands. The future of the Church and of the world depends, in large part, on the values we communicate through the media.