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.