Vatican Radio turns 80, looks to new media

(February 11, 2011) As Vatican Radio is marking its 80^th anniversary on Saturday, Feb. 12, it is being urged to embrace new media to make its proclamation of the message of the Gospel and of the Pope in a more effective manner. Msgr. Peter Wells of the Vatican's Secretariat of State said the broadcaster must embrace new media – “from the podcast to the iPad, from social networks like Facebook to micro-blogging platforms like Twitter” - to take advantage of the opportunities offered for evangelizing in the 21st century. He spoke at a ceremony on Thursday to launch Vatican Radio’s 80^th anniversary, which is being marked by a small exhibition inside the entrance to the Vatican Museums and a series of other initiatives. Among the many items on display are the microphone used by Pope Pius XI when he inaugurated the broadcaster on Feb. 12, 1931, photographs of various popes launching new transmitters and an audio section that allows listeners to hear various papal broadcasts over the years. A book tracing the last 30 years of Vatican Radio's history, “From Megahertz to Gigabyte: Vatican Radio from John Paul II to Benedict XVI” is also due out in the fall; a previous book published in 1981 covered the broadcaster's first half-century. Msgr. Wells said the radio station must continue to be the voice that challenges those who say the Catholic Church is not capable of inner renewal, “showing instead the tireless desire for purification expressed by her supreme pastor.” It needs to be the voice that promotes religious freedom and calls for dialogue in a world increasingly in conflict, he said, adding, “All of us here know that the new media are absolutely essential, if Vatican Radio is to succeed in being such a voice.”
Card. Giovanni Lajolo, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State who also spoke at the inauguration of the Vatican Radio exhibition described the Pope’s radio and its listeners worldwide as ‘a big family without borders’ which with its variety of cultures and languages makes of everyone a brother and a sister, and thus acts as a great peacemaking force. He noted that since the radio’s inauguration in 1931 “radio messages would become, at least for several decades, one of the most important types of expressions of the Pope’s teaching, particularly his warnings about state of the world”.
Soon after Italy and the Holy See signed the Lateran Pacts on Feb. 11, 1929 giving birth to Vatican City State, Pope Pius XI tasked Italian inventor and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi with building a radio station inside the Vatican. Since the first broadcast by Pius XI on Feb. 12, 1931, Vatican Radio has been as a beacon for transmitting the message of the Church during the rise of Fascism, World War II, and the Cold War. In recent years, it has become more integrated with Vatican Television as the Holy See has become more focused on getting its message out online, with a dedicated YouTube channel and Twitter accounts. Earlier on Friday Vatican City marked the 82^nd anniversary of its founding.