SAN JUAN, Texas - Bishop of Brownsville Daniel E. Flores hosted his annual meeting with news reporters on World Communications Day.
In his remarks, Flores spoke about the journalists around the world that are reporting from war zones. He said:
“The Holy Father talked about this a lot and I think we should acknowledge it. There are many parts of the world where journalists lose their lives trying to report to the rest of the world what is happening on the ground. And he always wants us to remember the sacrifices that people make to kind of help the world be aware as to what is going on.
“He calls us all to be kind of be responsible and to kind of be thoughtful about how we report what we see and so forth. And so I think it is good to remember in prayer that there are many places in the world where there is great violence. Most of the people who come to our respite center are fleeing great violence. And the reporters are often on the front line of that.
“For no other reason except to say that we should acknowledge that sacrifice and that it is for something that is important. So that we might be aware of where human dignity is at stake and where it suffers. Because otherwise we can just close our eyes to it, places of war, places of violence, places of natural disaster.
“To help us appreciate that for the church it is not just about we have to get our techniques of communication right, so on and so forth. That is important. But also just to say it takes a human sacrifice, a gift in itself, in the Christian sense, that helps people to be aware of the realism that we face and to try to make it a better world.”
Flores also spoke about the 2024 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. One of the four routes starts this Sunday from San Juan Diego Church in Brownsville. A Rio Grande Valley native, Joshua Velasquez, plans to walk all the way.
The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is a 2024 pilgrimage that will pass through 27 states and 65 dioceses, covering 6,500 miles, and will end at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17–21, 2024. The pilgrimage will feature four routes, each starting on the opposite side of the country, and will include the Marian route, the Seton route, the Juan Diego route, and the Serra route.
Here is a video interview with Bishop Flores about the pilgrimage:
https://youtu.be/kfuV9yaupsA
