An Interview with Editor of the Vatican Newspaper on it's New Look!!!

I thought this was a very interesting article and interview regarding the Vatican's newspaper. I am followng the upgrades in the Holy See's communication and media outlets with some interest. Thanks for the translation goes to the Ratzinger forum.

The Pope's newspaper is secular and open

Translated from the 3/1 issue of L'Eco di Bergamo

Starting Sunday, March 2, L'Osservatore Romano will be in the newsstands with L'Eco.

'We address ourselves in friendship event to non-believers' 'Little politics: We report on the world and culture' 'Among our authoritative writers are Jews and Orthodox'

A Page 3 heading says: 'A bit more respect for the Capitoline Jove' [Statue of Jupiter in Rome's Capitoline Museums]. I t's true that it's an item about cultural treasures, but it still is about a pagan god.

One day the main story on Page 1 is on the Kosovo crisis, or it announces Ahmadinejad's visit to Baghdad; another day, it's about the Christian presence in Japan. And next to the main story, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi analyzes the dramatic rise in the price of oil, Gianfranco Ravasi discusses the relationship between Catholics and Jews starting with a line from Kafka, but the usual crime news you will not find.

The Pope's discourses are highlighted, but 'the studies of Joseph Ratzinger on St. Bonaventure' are announced in a small one-column at the bottom of the page. Veltroni and Berlusconi, Bindi and Binetti, Mastella and Follini, Formigoni and Casini [leading Italian politicians all] - of which our newspapers cannot say enough about - don't figure at all.

Something has happened at L'Osservatore Romano: after 23 years, it has had a new editor for the past four months now. And it shows. Gianmaria Vian, 56, a Roman of Venetian ancestry, Church historian and philologist, is not an intellectual who lives in the past. When he decides, he acts. He has named his people to key positions, and since October 27, 2007, the newspaper 'has changed overnight', as noted in L'Espresso by Sandro Magister, one of the most attentive observers of what happens 'across the Tiber'.

Vian has not followed the style of his colleagues at Repubblica or Corriere della Sera or La Stampa. At a time when newspapers are becoming mini-books reaching almost a hundred pages, he has reduced his paper to 8. He has reduced picture sizes to give more space to text of high quality. He has re-sized the headlines, which do not have to 'scream', but definitely the paper looks more inviting.

The graphic look is much better - still serious but more elegant and more spacious. When the Pope had to cancel his appearance at La Sapienza, L'Osservatore did not limit itself to the official announcement, though accompanied by universal regret. It called on Giorgio Israel, a Jewish mathematician, to explain why such things happen in Italy. He did so impeccably.

Professor Vian, you now edit the newspaper of the Holy See. Remember it is an unofficial newspaper, not official.
We are much more free, in the responsible sense of the term, than people think. In the past, some likened the newspaper to Pravda the Communist Party newspaper of the USSR, now of Russia. Nothing could be farther from true.

When your newspaper was founded, one of the proposed names was L'amico della verita'(The friend of truth) - and in fact 'Pravda' means truth. So L'Osservatore Romano is quite a secular name, isn't it?
Quite! It's more prudent, we think. Certainly, it proposes to be a journal of ideas. Cardinal Montini (future Paul VI), recalling our first 100 years in 1961, wrote that in order to be the great newspaper that is inscribed in its genes, it should not only inform but form.

To report facts is not enough. In this, I note a specific affinity between Paul VI and Benedict XVI, who in Spe salvi writes about the need for 'performative information'. In a world where there is an excess of news, we certainly cannot compete with television, but we can play a role in the presentation adn discussion of ideas, in the formation of critical consciousness. In this sense, we have a great secular vocation.

On the day you took over, Benedict XVI - with 'great esteem and affection' - practically wrote the editorial program in 10 lines.
Which was particularly demanding. 'Searching out and creating occasions for a confrontation (of ideas', as the Pope says, our mission is 'to better serve the Holy See, by showing the fecundity of the encounter between faith and reason'.

He also asked us to reflect in the newspaper that "trustful but at the same time profoundly reasonable openness to the Transcendent upon which ultimately rest the dignity and authentic freedom of every human being". And in my first editorial, I wrote that "the newspaper wishes to address everyone in friendship, believers and non-believers alike".

It cannot be easy to edit such a newspaper.
It is an enormous responsibility. But it is also a great privilege and honor. It is very demanding. It has changed the way I live in these past few months. I have written for newspapers since 1973 but my primary profession is being a student of philology.

Now I spend 12 hours a day in the editorial room. But I do this work with great passion. And I am glad I have found a team that is of great help. I told my predecessor, now our emeritus editor, Mario Agnes: "You left me an editorial staff much better than what you found when you first took the job in 1984." It's a great atmosphere.

You have made people contribute like the theologian Inos Biffi and the bioethics expert Adriano Pessina. The constitutionalist Francesco Paolo Casavola and the archaeologist Michele Piccirillo. The economist Ettore Gotti Tedeschi has already caused quite a stir with his pieces against public spending considered as an 'independent variable' and in defense of saving families. You have even started to carry foreign writers.
Let's say non-Italian, because for the Church of Rome and its Bishop, no one is a foreigner.

Sorry.... Lately, I have seen the bylines of the Prior of Taize, Frere Alois, of the Russian historian Alexej Judin, of the American art historian Timothy Verdon.
I would like to open the newspaper as much as possible to international collaborators. Not always necessarily Catholic. We've already had contributions from Orthodox and Protestants. We interviewed the Chief Rabbi of Rome. Anna Foa, who is a fellow professor at La Sapienza, and Jewish, now writes for us.

You have the international news on pages 2 and 3 - Israel, Chad, the Ukraine, Algeria, Iraq...At the bottom, there's something about the US presidential campaign. And Italian news appears in these 'international' pages.
We have doubled our international coverage, which is usually 'penalized' in Italian newspapers. Were it not for Avvenire and so-called 'second-tier' dailies like Il Foglio and Il Riformista, or the missionary journals, which are invaluable in this respect, international news would be greatly ignored.

You are going against the current, with respect to today's journalism.
I can afford to. We have the great advantage of working for a very authoritative newspaper. Which is important not so much because of our professional quality but because it is 'the Pope's newspaper'. We enjoy a very special association, indeed a unique one.

With the authority of almost a century and a half of history behind us, it is easier to take more risks. But I have done so, inspired by the newspaper's own tradition: an international breadth was always one of the hallmarks of L'Osservatore Romano from the very start.

You also have editions in various languages.
Besides the daily and the weekly newspaper in Italian - what we call 'the parish edition' - yes, we prepare six other editions, in French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, German and Polish.

The space dedicated to culture has doubled, where the big Italian newspapers usually bury such items around page 67, and one cannot always say much for the quality of reporting.
In fact, I think that culture has been suffering somewhat these days. There's the Sunday issue of Il Sole 24 Ore, and above all, the exception is Avvenire which, thanks to its editor Dino Boffo and to its cultural editor Roberto Righetto, two very dear friends - have a presence in this sector today that has few rivals in Italy. So we are trying to devote enough space daily to cultural information, and even in this case, to achieve international breadth.

And then, on pages 6,7 and 8, you have all the news on religion.
In effect, we have a second 'Page 1' on the back page, which is usually reserved to the activities of the Pope and the Holy See. But we also want to go beyond just the Catholic world. We want to provide information about other Christian churches also and on other religions.

Have you had any precise instructions from Cardinal Bertone?
Yes. He recommended having a greater feminine presence in the newspaper. I think this reflects Benedict XVI's own personal wishes.

Yes, one notices, in fact, the presence of women contributors.
I have also named the first female editor of one of our editions: Astrid, Haas, an Austrian, is now editor of the German edition.

Does the Secretary of State watch you closely?
He asked us to make 'a great newspaper'. And he is counting on us. I would say he is our first and best testimonial. Less than a month after I took over, he spoke at the Consistory and presented the new Osservatore to all the cardinals. He really advertised us, and even announced that we would eventually have an online edition.

With regard to information technology, I read a headline that a bit odd, which read 'Using the mouse to look into the secrets of the Inquisition'. Are you trying to sound more 'with it'?
Well, it's especially the culture editors who sometimes want headlines that are even more free-wheeling, and they've taken to it happily, so it's up to me to watch it.

You are 'the Pope's newspaper'.
We document as well as report on the activities of the Holy See. We must be the first to publish the discourses of the Pope and to report on his activities completely. But we also want to be a journalistic model. That is why I have tried to encourage more interviews.

I see that they are well-liked and they tend to be picked up by other newspapers. These interviews - generally with Church authorities - show the internal workings of the Church, which is much more dynamic than people normally think about it.

When you say that 'we are the Pope's newspaper', it seems to me that you mean something that goes beyond the fact that you work for the Vatican.
Of course. At noon, in the editorial offices, we pray the Angelus together, and we end the day with the traditional 'Oremus pro Pontefice nostro'. I informed the Holy Father about this when he invited myself and my deputy editor Carlo Di Cicco shortly after he named us.

For a Catholic, there is always the 'affective' dimension of this job - a faithfulness from the heart. At the same time, Benedict XVI himself is very interested problems that have to do with information and communications.

You promptly identified the weak point of your product quite clearly - its low circulation. Does this collaboration with L'Eco address this point?
Exactly. We are looking for new channels because the present circulation is costing us, it penalizes us even. Historically, this has always been the Osservatore's sore point. And Vatican resources, despite what people may think, are quite modest.

You wrote openly that right now, the newspaper is losing about 4 and a half million euros a year.
I am trying to contain costs - that too is important. To increase our visibility, we have two ways: going online and being able to print the newspaper elsewhere besides the Vatican. So this collaboration with L'Eco is a historic novelty for us.

We will always have our presses within the Vatican for reasons that are not just symbolic - for instance, that is what assured that the newspaper remained independent during the Fascist regime. But today, the situation is very different. For this great opportunity that your bishop and your newspaper have offered us to have it printed in northern Italy, not only myself but also the entire staff are very grateful to you. And of course, the Holy See itself.

Which edition is it that we will be carrying starting tomorrow (March 2, Sunday)?
We will be transmitting to Bergamo the edition which comes out in Rome on Saturday evenings - dated Sunday - in just a few newsstands near the Vatican. Everywhere else in Italy, the newspaper comes out the morning after. There are hardly any afternoon papers anymore, except us and Le Monde [French]. And L'Osservatore comes out in the afternoon in order to immediately report the activities, the speeches and the nominations (for episcopal and curial positions) made by the Pope on the same day.

The latter is contained in the only official part of the newspaper is the well-known front-page feature called 'Nostre Informazioni' prepared by the Secretariat of State. We find the Sunday issue particularly important. The Pope does not have a short week, as you know, and Saturday is often a day for important events.

Under your banner there's the Latin motto, 'Non praevalebunt'.
'They will not prevail', yes. It's a Biblical phrase.

Eschatological in fact.
It looks to the future, to hope: that notwithstanding everything that can happen in history, notwithstanding the pain that man suffers, Evil will not have the last word, its forces 'will not prevail'. It is a promise made by Christ himself. It is even part of the Pope's last encyclical.

The sense is undoubtedly metaphysical. But the Church also its hands and feet in history. So that's also a warning even for Mieli, Mauro, Anselmi, Feltri, Giordano & Company! [the editors of Italy's leading newspapers]

L'Eco di Bergamo, 1° marzo 2008

NB: The other motto under OR's banner 'Unicuique suum' means 'To each his own'.