Around the world in 80 years

Vatican Radio was officially inaugurated by Pope Pius XI exactly 80 years ago with a radio message spoken in Latin. That momentous day on February 12th, 1931 marked the first time in the long history of the Church that pope had sent his voice throughout the world. Susy Hodges revisited that historic day with the original recordings of Pope Pius XI's inaugural speech and then sat down with the head of Vatican Radio's English Programme, Sean Patrick Lovett, to look back at some of the highlights of its history and learn more about its future direction.

Lovett says Pope Pius XI was very much the mover and shaker behind the radio's birth: "Pius was fascinated by this idea that you could speak into a piece of metal on this side of the world and be heard right across on the other side." 80 years later, Vatican Radio has remained in the forefront of the latest technology as Lovett goes on to say: "We were among the very first radio stations to use podcasts which we dubbed Godcasting ... but we've always been in the avanguard of looking at how technology can help us get that message across.."

Lovett says Vatican Radio played a very important role during and immediately after the Second World War by broadcasting over a million and a half messages to help reunite prisoners of war and refugees with their families. Vatican Radio, he continued, also "was outrightly denouncing the existence of the concentration camps." During the Cold War era, Lovett spoke of how a student he knew from Latvia "told the story of how her father risked punishment from the nation's communist regime by listening to Vatican Radio ... and how "her mother would run to the front door to check if the spy was listening outside."

Lovet stresses that Vatican Radio "has always broadcast the major events in the life of the Church including the Second Vatican Council, the elections of the popes, the funerals of the popes....." and says that with the exception of Pope John Paul I all the popes have visited the radio, with Pope Paul the 6th "visiting it the day after his election."
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