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Pray this prayer from Pope Francis for a world beset by fake news

A man reads a copy of the "Catholic Mirror" newspaper bearing an image of Pope Francis at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi November 22, 2015. The Saint Joseph parish of the Kenyan capital Nairobi is expected to host a mass led by Pope Francis, who arrives in Kenya in two-days on a historic visit to East and Central Africa. Pope Francis heads to Africa this week for the riskiest trip of his papacy, defying danger with an open-topped popemobile and visits to a slum, refugee camp and mosque despite security fears following jihadist attacks. AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA / AFP / SIMON MAINA

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Kathleen N. Hattrup - published on 01/25/21
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“Teach us to listen, not to entertain prejudices or draw hasty conclusions …”In the 2021 message for the World Day of Social Communications, Pope Francis concludes with a prayer that we all might set out in search of truth, and to distinguish truth from deception.

In the message, he says:

All of us are responsible for the communications we make, for the information we share, for the control that we can exert over fake news by exposing it. All of us are to be witnesses of the truth: to go, to see and to share.

~

Lord, teach us to move beyond ourselves,
and to set out in search of truth.

Teach us to go out and see,
teach us to listen,
not to entertain prejudices
or draw hasty conclusions.

Teach us to go where no one else will go,
to take the time needed to understand,
to pay attention to the essentials,
not to be distracted by the superfluous,
to distinguish deceptive appearances from the truth.

Grant us the grace to recognize your dwelling places in our world
and the honesty needed to tell others what we have seen.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 23 January 2021, Vigil of the Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales


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