'Philosophy of communication, culture, and mission’ traverses huge areas of human knowledge that embody the sharing of meaning and values which, at once, cement and transcend cultures. One aesthetic gateway that can tie together a reflection on the vast intellectual landscapes encapsulated in our topic, within the Catholic Intellectual tradition, rooted in the natural law and Judeo-Christian traditions, is the notion of ‘person.’ Persons are rational creatures of God, sharing meanings as communicators. They embody ideas that go into the making of cultures, and stand as subjects of mission in the communication of the liberating love of God that binds persons and promotes human progress. Other things being equal then, this paper essentially asserts that the traditional notion of ‘person’ provides a good ontological basis for an enriching understanding of philosophy of communication, culture, and mission.

Some recent cases related to free speech show that different forms of fundamentalism challenge the liberal notion of absolute tolerance. This situation can also express that liberal tolerance based on ethical skepticism is not enough to solve the moral problem of noxious speech. I briefly explore the historical context and the philosophical background where political rights like free speech were founded. During this process, the Church passes from condemning modernity to dialogue. Vatican II contains the new theoretical framework of the Church about the secular world. The magisterium of John Paul II on communication and freedom in the public sphere offers a new approach to media within the Church and a profound insight to the main dilemmas related to the exercise of freedom.