The commitment and work of Diego Contreras and other colleagues of the School of Institutional Communication of the University of the Holy Cross to publish these notes (more than 600 pages) that Joaquin Navarro-Valls took during his years as spokesman of the Holy See should be much appreciated. The professors insisted on preparing the material for publication, aware of Navarro’s privileged place in that pontificate and perhaps intuiting the lessons about the profession of institutional communication these personal notes contain.
The posthumously published book is attributed to Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the author of the notes; it was edited, however, by the group of professors previously mentioned, one of whom is Diego Contreras who signed only the prologue. The choice to have the notes in chronological order in this publication is a wise one. The narration follows the rhythm of historical facts recognizable to the reader as he discovers episodes of Pope John Paul II's life, especially his summers at Aosta Valley, or the popular religious customs of his beloved Polish homeland.
These annotations undoubtedly allow us to know better the greatness of the figure of St. John Paull II, and this seems to be the only motivation that led Navarro to write down his experiences. As an unintended side effect, we also encounter the humanity and professionalism of Dr. Navarro. Additionally, there are some very interesting lessons for communication professionals and leaders of organizations—and not only ecclesiastical ones. This is a book that might as well be a manual, not only for communication managers but also for organizational leaders. Through it, they will be able to better understand the service that communication can provide to government. The narrative style facilitates the learning of these lessons deduced from the notes, which themselves do not pretend to teach us anything.
The starting point that makes the whole book possible is Navarro’s access to the pope, which began a few days before his appointment when John Paul II himself asked to have lunch with him. Without that access, this book could hardly tell us either about John Paul II or about Navarro’s profession in the way it does.
John Paul II is shown to be a leader who dedicated a lot of time listening to his spokesman to know what was going on outside. He is depicted as one who understood very well both the importance of contextual intelligence and the dynamics and logic of public opinion. In a time before Twitter (started 2006) and Instagram (2010), and when Facebook (2004) was in its infancy as a network for friends, the media played an almost exclusive role in leading the public conversation. John Paul II knew this, and that is why he often asked Navarro in some way, ‘What do the media say?’. While the role of communication in companies and organizations is still up for debate, there may be a greater prejudice against understanding the strategic and ‘communion’ value of communication in organizations such as ecclesiastical ones. This prejudice is especially prevalent when there is the fear that media perceptions may condition decisions, such as communication professionals ‘contaminating’ the government of the institution by being too aware of public opinion. John Paul II, however, had the foresight to understand where the New Areopagi were to be found as spaces for conversation. The media were not only to disseminate information but also to learn from their own approaches and visions.
Moreover, the pope understood very well the value Navarro placed on journalists being well-informed and on time in order for the media to carry out their mission. During those shared summers in the mountains, the spokesman often abandoned the group on excursions to brief journalists and give them photographs he had himself taken of the pope.
Going a step further, John Paul II entrusted Navarro with missions beyond the usual scope of a spokesman’s work, such as preparing for the pope’s trip to Cuba or visiting the Kremlin as part of the Vatican delegation that traveled to Moscow for the celebration of the millennium.
Therefore, the professional practice that Navarro developed thanks to the vision and trust of John Paul II anticipated, in a certain way, some dimensions of institutional communication that, while at best only implicit at that time, are now attributed to the profession. These dimensions include facilitating relationships and building trust with internal and external stakeholders; providing valued counsel and being a trusted advisor; and identifying and addressing communication problems proactively.
Along with these skills belonging to communication professionals, some of the spokesman’s human virtues that are very necessary for the profession also shine through in the book: humility, which is reflected in the way the notes are written; tenacity, which led Navarro to take risks and persevere; and great resilience. In addition, Navarro cannot be fully understood without his deep commitment to God and the Church, concretized in his vocation to Opus Dei. There was a higher motivation—sanctity—that granted integrity to his professional life, and the presence of God in his acts explains his great humanity and the joyful sacrifice that fills these pages.
In short, Navarro’s exercise of his profession and his vision as a leader allow readers to see the valuable contribution of communication at all levels: most concretely in press briefings and in the creation of the Vatican’s website; in the construction of valuable intangible assets, such as Sala Stampa’s reputation stemming from good work and having good relationships; in the value that providing information from listening gives for the definition of the organization’s strategy.
Finally, the notes don’t gloss over Navarro’s mistakes or the difficulties he encountered, particularly with people in decision-making positions who lacked sensitivity about communication. He had already asked John Paul II to let him resign because of the number of years he had served, and repeated this request to Benedict XVI shortly after his election in April 2005. On June 4th of the same year, Navarro wrote that he saw the informative action of the Holy See closing in on itself, that it was not providing information.
The service that communication provides to an organization’s government, to deploy all its potential, requires the collaboration of the organization’s leader and its spokesperson. Navarro’s book would have been very different without John Paul II, or rather, there would not be a book. Likewise, John Paul II could hardly have developed his intuition on the value of public opinion without Navarro’s profile. This alignment does not happen very often, but a book like this one allows us to contemplate the number of good things that happen for organizations when it does. This book shows the way in the relationship between communication and trust-based government trust in the professionalism of the work of communication, and trust in the people who do it.
Marketing and Media Management Department, School of Communication, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
[email protected]