A Church in Dialogue

This book was written for the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the School of Church Communications, which was founded in 1996 as part of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. Although several of its professors and collaborators have participated as authors, these pages are not intended as a review the brief history of the School. Rather, they aim to be a collective reflection on people, themes and events of the final years of the 20th Century and the beginning of the current one, which can teach us much about the communication of, in and from the Church. It has been a time rich in significant events and changes – the new millennium, the digital revolution, the economic and migratory crises, the global pandemic – which have produced major cultural transformations and veritable tsunamis in the world of communication. Communicating the faith and the Christian experience is the task of all the members of the Church. But it is also true that communication professionals and academics have a special responsibility in this task. We hope that this book can contribute to the appreciation and promotion of the role of communication in the Catholic Church, by taking stock of the work done in these twenty-five years, reflecting on the lessons learned and showing the challenges that lie on the horizon. Gema Bellido holds a PhD in Audiovisual Communication from the Complutense University of Madrid. She worked in several media (television and radio) before turning to the academic life and becoming a professor of Image Culture at Villanueva University (Madrid). She has also participated in several research groups related to the new trends in the Fiction/Non-Fiction paradigm in Spanish audiovisual discourse, as well as on the protection of minors and and the relationship between television and childhood. She currently resides in Rome, where she combines her work as a communications consultant with research at the School of Communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.