To all peoples” “

“Announcing the Christian message with freedom, fidelity and effectiveness and connecting the centre of Catholicism with the various countries of the world, diffusing the voice and teachings of the Roman Pontiff, informing on the activity of the Holy See, reporting Catholic life in the world, guiding and evaluating the problems of the moment in the light of the Church’s magisterium and in constant attention to the signs of the time”: this, as its statutes proclaim, is the mission of Vatican Radio, “received from the Popes” and still “of the greatest actuality”. The mission of the Holy See’s radio station was described by Jesuit Father FEDERICO LOMBARDI, director general of Vatican Radio, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary (12 February 1931) of the inauguration of Vatican Radio (VR) and the first radio message to the world ever given by a Pope, Pius XI, who had commissioned the scientist Guglielmo Marconi to build the Vatican’s radio station. “By means of radio, and then of television – said BENEDICT XVI in his Angelus address on 12 February, on the occasion of the anniversary -, the Gospel message and the words of the Popes have been able to reach all peoples more rapidly and easily”. Meanwhile the visit that Benedict XVI will make to the headquarters of Vatican Radio in the Palazzo Pio on 3 March has been confirmed. MULTICULTURAL AND MULTILINGUAL. VR is characterized both by “multiculturalism – over 40 languages are used” – and by “flexibility of intervention”, continued the director general, emphasizing that “multiculturalism is a mirror of the universality of the Church, of its respect for cultures, and of its desire for the inculturation of the Gospel message”. It is a multiculturalism that is “being expanded everyday, also through television and especially Internet. Vatican Radio – he added – is conscious of the importance of certain languages in the contemporary world and in the life of the Church (English, Spanish…) but is – by its historic vocation – a decided adversary of every form of cultural colonialism and a supporter of the variety of the cultural traditions in the Church”. At the international level, the broadcaster of the Holy See has begun forms of partnership and exchange with a number of radio stations, and in this regard Father Lombardi recalled “the role played by the VR in April 2005 [on the occasion of the death of John Paul II], hosting and assisting 45 broadcasters, and the service permanently performed by our office of international relations”. The VR is a founding member of the EUR-EBU (European Union for Radio and Television), the major network association in the world with 71 members active in 52 countries of Europe, and a regular observer member of the UNRTA (Union of National Radiodiffusion and Television of Africa). It also participates in the activity of SIGNIS, the international Catholic organization of the media, and “over 1000 broadcasting stations throughout the world re-transmit its programmes through satellites and Internet”, concluded Father Lombardi. A GLOBAL VISION. In the view of Father ANDRZEJ KOPROWSKI, director of programming, “priority frontiers” of Vatican Radio are, apart from Latin America and Africa, “those of Arab language and culture” and “that of Asia”. “The vision of the Arab world” and the Islamic world is not only a political, but also a cultural, social and ecclesial question of primary importance, as recent weeks have demonstrated”. As for Asia, “we know very well the development of the Church in India – he said – and we are conscious how important the role of Christianity in India is for the future of the universal Church, as also how important it is to develop, and keep open, universal links between the Church in India, the Holy See and the particular Churches in the other continents”. It is also vitally important, in the view of the director of programmes, “also to understand the cultures of China, Japan and Vietnam”. In the countries of Eastern Europe, already reached during the period of Communist regimes, the VR is now planning “new forms of collaboration through the local media, both public and private, Catholic and non-Catholic”, announced Father Koprowski. To exemplify the VR’s commitment “to interpreting facts with a common vision and an overall interpretation”, the Jesuit cited “Europe without walls”, a programme born after the war in the Balkans on the joint initiative of the Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Romanian, Slovene and Hungarian sections of VR. Also significant is the contribution of the CIS (Central Information Services) that handle the VR’s radio news bulletins in Italian, English and French broadcast 15 times each day from 8.00 to 21.00. The website www.radiovaticana.org, with 42 editions on line now “speaks” 30 languages each with its own home page and areas for surfing, original news stories and analysis, in written form, audio and photos. 8 channels in Italian, English, French, German, Polish, Spanish, Brazilian and Swedish, plus one reserved for recordings of the voice of the Pope, distribute various programmes in their respective languages. Over 60 transmissions (in 39 languages) are available on demand: “The ones most downloaded – points out Father Koprowski – are those of the Chinese and Vietnamese programmes”. It is also possible to follow on the web the liturgy of the day and the celebrations of the main liturgical festivities and mass (in Italian, Latin, English, Russian and Chinese), also according to the oriental rites.