Vatican official tells Vatican Radio to be true heralds of Pope, Church
(September 29, 2011) Vatican’s top official reminded Vatican Radio on Thursday of
its ecclesial mission of bringing to its listeners throughout the world the teachings
of the Pope and the Church, without becoming worldly and watering down the truths
of Christ’s message. Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, gave
the exhortation to the employees of Vatican Radio in his homily at a Mass celebrated
at the grotto of the Virgin Mary in the Vatican Gardens, on the feast of the Archangel
Gabriel, the patron of Vatican Radio. The Mass was part of a series of celebrations
this year, marking the 80th anniversary of Pope’s radio which was inaugurated by Pope
Pius XI on 12th February, 1931. “It is necessary that Vatican Radio continues to be
a typically ecclesial means of communication, linked in a vital way to the Church,
as a branch is linked with the vine,” the cardinal told the gathering, among whom
were several dignitaries including Elektra Marconi the daughter of the Italian radio
pioneer Guglielmo Marconi who was commissioned by Pope Pius XI to set up Vatican Radio.
The Vatican Secretary of State told the radio employees they must not be mere loudspeakers
of what the Pope says and does, but must faithfully convey the truths taught by the
Church, especially with regard to faith and morals as authentically interpreted and
taught by the Church. “We know how much public opinion looks up to our radio as the
Pope’s Radio that broadcasts an authoritative report,” he noted. “While establishing
a dialogue between the world and the Pope and the Church, Vatican Radio’s mediation
however should not become worldly in the sense of watering down or emptying of the
deeper and truer contents of the message,” Cardinal Bertone added.