In his recent message for World  Communications Day Francis seems to go beyond an accepted scholarly concept of communication. In fact some discerning readers see a Coperican revolution in his approach to communication.

An Italian media expert Chiara Giaccardi  said there’s a small “Copernican revolution” in the message in terms of defining communication not as “the transmission of content” but rather “the reduction of distance.” (Quote found in an NCR article)

Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better, and ultimately, to grow in unity. This is so much more than “the transmission of of information from a sender to a receiver”

The words of the Pope … “We are challenged to be people of depth, attentive to what is happening around us and spiritually alert.  To dialogue means to believe that the “other” has something worthwhile to say, and to entertain his or her point of view and perspective.  Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but the claim that they alone are valid or absolute.”

What a difference this would make in all forms of discourse – political and personal.

It would certainly replace the “defensive listening” whereby we listen for the flaws in another persons point of view instead of recognizing that the other may see something we don’t see.

Maybe lyricists Rodgers and Hammerstein  got it right in 1951 when they wrote the lyrics “Getting To Know You”