CEPACS at 50: Communications Prefect calls for interconnectedness

The Holy See’s Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, has said the true purpose of communication is to build communion and relationships, as he visits Lagos, Nigeria, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Pan African Committee for Social Communications (CEPACS).

Paul Samasumo – Vatican City.

Paolo Ruffini is in Lagos, Nigeria, for the landmark 50th anniversary of the Pan African Committee for Social Communications. Known by its French acronym of CEPACS –this body created by African Bishops to spearhead the Social Communications apostolate on the continent was formed in 1973. It was formed in response to the Second Vatican Council’s post-conciliar document, Communio et Progressio.

Speaking Sunday morning at the Holy Cross Cathedral of Lagos, Nigeria, Ruffini said communication is more than just conveying information and is more than personalities and media practitioners.

Communication: Towards promoting a synodal church

The CEPACS Golden Jubilee, said Ruffini, should be about celebration and the people of God searching together for ways to move towards a more Christian communication style. He said the fundamental vision of communication should be about connection and creating relationships.

Several Catholic Bishops across Africa have converged on Lagos for the 50th anniversary, whose theme is “CEPACS AT 50: towards promoting a synodal church in Africa through Social Communications.”

The two-day celebration and conference ends on Tuesday, 21 November. During the two-day gathering, several Bishops and international communication experts will present papers to relaunch the Church media apostolate in Africa.

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