The gospel message on Tv

Television “reaches countless people, cultures and nations”, and can be “an occasion to defend the dignity of each person, and to promote peace, solidarity and communion within the human family”, said Cardinal TARCISIO BERTONE , Vatican Secretary of State, in a message sent on behalf of Benedict XVI to the World Congress of Catholic TV with the title “The rapid development”, held in Madrid from 10 to 12 October. Organized by the Pontifical Council of Social Communications, the archdiocese of Madrid and the Garcia-Morente Foundation, the congress was attended by 300 delegates, representing some 2000 TV stations or Catholic organizations/associations that work in this field. THE CHURCH AS PROTAGONIST. “It’s not enough to limit ourselves to diffusing our Catholic contents; what’s needed, above all, is a personal and collective life in accordance with the Gospel”, said Archbishop JOHN PATRICK FOLEY , President of the Pontifical Council of Social Communications, in his introductory speech at the World Congress of Catholic TV. Emphasizing that “technological changes in the media industry require” an awareness “of the role of communication as major protagonist in the contemporary world and of the necessary convergence of the classic media with those linked to the new technologies”, Foley said he was “ever more convinced that the Church should be involved” in this area “at every level”. Cardinal ANTONIO MARIA ROUCO VARELA emphasized, for his part, that “through TV the gospel message may reach people who cannot be reached through other means of communication”. It is time, he said, “to embark on an institutional reorganization of Catholic TV stations in the various geographical and cultural regions where the Church is present”. THE TV OF THE POPE. The “period of greatest diffusion” of the images of the Vatican Television Centre throughout the world was registered in the transition between two pontificates, from the death of John Paul II to the election of Benedict XVI, explained Father FEDERICO LOMBARDI , director of the Vatican Television Centre, Vatican Radio and the Vatican Press Room. Drawing a profile of the Vatican Television Centre (VTC), from its foundation in 1983 to the present day, Father Lombardi underlined that its task is to “provide its services to all television institutions, without any distinction, from the major television agencies to both national and private television channels in any part of the world”, in such a way as to furnish, through TV images, “the widest possible diffusion of information relating to the Catholic Church and the Pope’s activities”. In the transitional period between the last two pontificates, added Lombardi, “the images transmitted by the VTC reached every corner of the planet, with a service that won wide recognition from the international television world”. It goes without saying that the VTC devotes particular consideration to Catholic TV stations, with which its collaboration “has increased in recent years”. THE VOICE (AND THE FACE) OF AFRICA. “Recognising the backwardness of the African continent in the television and technological sphere does not mean abandoning it. What’s needed, on the contrary, are resistance, clear-sightedness, professional skills, local and international laws, satellite connections and the search for funds to launch Catholic television networks and programmes also in Africa”, said Cardinal BERNARD AGRÉ , archbishop of Abidjan (Ivory Coast), speaking of the presence of the African Church in state TV and international television networks. In public television, said Cardinal Agré, “the effective participation of Catholics in television programmes undoubtedly constitutes a visible fact”. Many Catholic presenters, producers and technical experts work in them. With international TV networks the relationship is more complex: often they are interested in the African Church for superficial reasons, “out of mere tourist curiosity, if not folklore”, said Cardinal Agré. “It is to be hoped – he added – that these teams of professionals accept to work together with African professionals. The cardinal from Ivory Coast admitted the paucity of private Catholic channels in Africa: only four diocesan projects in Tanzania, Zambia and two in Congo, plus a few production companies. He concluded by expressing the hope that “a new generation of African producers” would emerge, that satellite connection be provided where this is still impracticable due to its high costs, and that mutual aid be stepped up between Catholic television services in various countries of the world.