Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, presented the 2023 Father Jacques Hamel Award in Lourdes. The presentation of the award was held during the Days of Saint Francis de Sales.
This is the award established in 2018 which recognizes the journalistic work that has contributed especially to peace.
The purpose of this recognition is to highlight the memory of the French priest Jacques Hamel, who was assassinated in 2016 while celebrating Mass in the church of St. Etienne du Rouvray, in the Normandy region.
The Cardinal presented the edition of this Award in the presence of Roselyne Hamel, the sister of Fr. Jacques, who disseminates the testimony of faith that her brother transmitted to her.
The winner of this award this year was the journalist Christophe Chaland for his article “752 days hostage to the mujahideen” which recounts the testimony of the Italian priest PierLuigi Maccalli, published in Le Pèlerin on 29 September 2022.
Previously, the Secretary of State gave a speech in French in which he highlighted the importance of “Vatican diplomacy in favor of peace”, which prioritizes the promotion of solutions that favor “reconciliation” and “peace education”.
The 2023 San Francisco de Sales Days brought together around 230 journalists from 25 different countries and addressed the topic “How to make yourself heard? Big Catholic voices respond.”
In the inaugural session, the prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, invited journalists to “go beyond appearances” to see, listen and “speak with the heart” as Pope Francis wrote in his message for the World Day of Social Communications 2023.
Then, the Vatican authority stressed the importance of the search for the truth that “requires humility” and encouraged a courageous response to the challenge of “authentic freedom”.
“The humble journalist seeks to fully understand the facts before publishing… he does not build stereotypes, he does not look for scapegoats,” Ruffini stressed.