St. Titus Brandsma

One of the Blesseds to be canonized this Sunday May 15, 2022 can very well become the patron saint of journalists. Dozens of journalists have asked Pope Francis to proclaim the Dutch Carmelite to take this new role, alongside St. Francis de Sales, who was declared in that role in 1923. The journalists recognize in Titus Brandsma a professional peer and fellow believer of considerable standing. He was someone who shared the deeper mission that should drive journalism in modern times: a search for truth and veracity, the promotion of peace and dialogue between people. For many, Blessed Brandsma's staunch opposition to promoting Nazi propaganda is particularly relevant today due to the increasingly polarized media landscape and the prevalence of "fake news." According to his biography, he was named spiritual adviser to the Dutch Association of Catholic Journalists in 1935 and became its president after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. He worked with the Dutch bishops' in crafting their message opposing Nazi ideology and the forced publication of propaganda in Catholic newspapers. Despite the risks, Blessed Brandsma visited the offices of Catholic media outlets around the country over the course of 10 days, encouraging editors to resist pressure to publish propaganda. His actions drew the ire of the Nazi regime that arrested him in 1942. Several months later, he was transported to the Dachau concentration camp where he was killed by a lethal injection of carbolic acid. St. John Paul II, who beatified the Dutch priest in 1985, regarded him as a "valiant journalist" and a "martyr of freedom of expression against the tyranny of the dictatorship." According to a report by UNESCO published in January, 55 journalists and media professionals were killed in 2021. Two-thirds of those killed died in countries where there is no armed conflict.