"Can we communicate by listening? We live in a time when it seems that if we do not have the last word we have "lost out" in communicating. It is something we see every day on television talk shows and in debates between politicians. We experience it personally on social networks (the most populated public squares today). No matter what the topic is, if we have not published the last tweet or post, it may appear that we have been defeated in the conversation.

Pope Francis has overturned this functionalist paradigm of communication, which considers communication as a weapon to be used against the other. He has restored its primary value: a gift, an opportunity that helps us grow together with another. The immediate consequence of this "altruistic" logic is that the communicator does not prevail over the message he or she wants to convey. On the contrary, the strength of the message grows as the person who communicates it "steps aside"."

Please head over to Vatican News to read Alessandro's post

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