84

Despite Pope Francis’s extensive use of the media when communicating about the Church, he mobilizes other modes of communication in order to spread the Word of God. Christians spread the message through the way they live and act: this is what is meant by the notion of “testimony” when speaking the Word of God. Based on a corpus of papal texts delivered by Pope Francis, this contribution will examine how they portray this Christian way of living and acting, especially in the public sphere, with a focus on relationships with other people. Two aspects will be explored: (i) the way the behaviors, attitudes, and actions portrayed prefigure sense-making processes and (ii) the Christian way of living and acting as laid out by religious bodies.