More Encouraging Signs that the Vatican is Serious About Effective Communication to the World

I often follow the attempts of the Vatican to get more up to date on Communications. There have been several helpful signs the last two years. I was very encouraged by this interview of the Cardinal Secretary of State by the "Pope's Newspaper" that appeared today in L'Osservatore. Thanks again to the Ratzinger Forum that gave the translation. Hopefully in a few years we will not need a translation and we shall have access to a English version of the Daily edition!!!

It seems that the remarks of the Cardinal envisions that when he says "The newspaper of the Holy See is not an internal organ of the Vatican - it should be recognized and read as a means of communication in which every Christian may find the thinking of the Pope and the activities of the Holy See faithfully reported - in a manner that is journalistic, with a Catholic horizon that is wide as the world. The newspaper helps the reader grasp the sense of the Pope's words within a global context in which everyday, the forces of good and evil are at war. And it shows the concern with which the Church follows the events happening to different peoples. " Let us hope these efforts accelerate!!!

In Bergamo (northern Italy) to mark the 50th anniversary of Blessed John XXIII's election to the Papacy, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone took the occasion to underscore current efforts to disseminate L'Osservatore Romano as the Pope's newspaper. In this interview, the cardinal recalls that Benedict XVI's initiative for a 'renovation' of the Holy See's daily newspaper shows the Pope's strategic attention to communications media that are capable of reporting in depth the globalized world as well as the Church's evangelizing activity.

You give much importance to social communications, and indeed you consider it to be one of the priorities in the Pontificate of Benedict XVI. Why is this?
Communications decisively influence the representation that we have of the actual world. Modern means of social communications - now with mobile phones and the Internet - in addition to the more traditional tools like newspapers, films, radio and TV - make up the new environment within which our lives take place.

The same economic globalization which has profoundly changed the rhythms of life for a great part of the world population is perceived and judged through these information filters. It has become a commonplace to say that we live in a global village even if not all its inhabitants enjoy the same possibilities.

Justice and sharing still seem to be remote realities. Even good things like knowledge and education are available with great disparities. And the very capacity to perceive the real world - so different from the virtual world portrayed in the media depends on one's access to traditional and new media. Therefore it is evident why Benedict XVI - very faithful to the Council which impelled the Church to a new dimension - places so much importance on proper communications.

To evangelize today, to announce God-love, means not only personal interaction but also communicating in the context of the 'knowledge' created by and in the media. The one and only purpose of all these isntruments of communications in this respect is that the Church must be able to announce Jesus of the Gospels and his message of salvation, availing to the most of the constantly evolving techonology of communications.

The Pope specifically addresses the world of communications during his annual message for the World Day of Social Communications. On this occasion, he proposes to workers in information specific points and reflections on commitments that must be translated effectively into practice. For example, for the coming World Day on May 4, he has wirtten that media should not reduce themselves to nothing more than "the megaphone for economic materialism and ethical relativism" but should be instruments "in the service of a more just and fraternal world."

The Holy Father warns about the risks inherent in manipulating reality, serving dominant interests only, and the search for an audience at any cost. Together with the primacy of ethics and truth, the Pontiff reminds us that the search for and presentation of the truth about man constitute the highest calling of socail communications.

L'Osservatore Romano, the organ of the Holy See, how does it respond to these expectaitons of the Pope and the Church in communications?
When a new editor was named for L'Osservatore Romano last October, Benedict XVI sent a letter to him in which he recalled the important and glorious history of the newspaper, but most specially, he indicated the new directions and goals demanded of the times from the Pope's newspaper.

I think that it is gradually attaining the objectives indicated by the Holy Father. It is a demanding project that requires simultaneously amplifying use of the new techonlogies to consolidate a significant presence on the Internet, applying healthy criteria for marketing, perfecting its professionalism in order to succeed in establishing itself with its own distinct voice, recognizable and respected, within the concert of the international press.

These benchmarks should suffice to grasp the profound expectations of the Pope and his sense that this journal be perfected as an instrument of dialog and listening - within the Catholic Church represented in all its variety, but also in dialog with other Churches and religions, with the world of culture, with the sciences, and the new branches of human research. We will increasingly urge the Osservatore to recount effectively and persuasively the way proposed by Benedict XVI to the Church for communicating God and his love to the world today.

Eminence, on many occasions, you have been a persuasive promoter of spreading this newspaper so it may be more widely read.
I think it is natural that the Secretary of State moves enthusiastically to help realize the desire of the Holy Father. So I have taken the occasion to speak of the Ossevrvatore and to recommend reading it not only to bishops and priests but also to Catholic associations, to universities and parishes, to nuns and other religious, and specially, to the lay faithful.

The newspaper of the Holy See is not an internal organ of the Vatican - it should be recognized and read as a means of communication in which every Christian may find the thinking of the Pope and the activities of the Holy See faithfully reported - in a manner that is journalistic, with a Catholic horizon that is wide as the world. The newspaper helps the reader grasp the sense of the Pope's words within a global context in which everyday, the forces of good and evil are at war. And it shows the concern with which the Church follows the events happening to different peoples.

Why was it decided to issue the Sunday edition as a supplement to L'Eco di Bergamo?
It is an important editorial initiative that is truly innovative and that I fully encouraged. The Osservatore needs wider dissemination. But to be widespread and in demand means that first of all, it must be recognized and known. The Diocese of Bergamo undertook to contribute in launching this project. It has thus made possible the printing and distribution of the Sunday edition together with L'Eco di Bergamo sold togyether for just one Euro. This is an experiment that we hope may be repeated in other places.

We wanted to start with one of the oldest and best established Catholic newspapers in Italy. It is a beautiful and promising initiative between Catholic publishers that should be sustained. To walk together is always better than to walk divided as can often happen even in the most well-meaning untertakings.

And I find it excellent that this synergy between Osservatore aand Eco was launched on the 100th anniversary year of John XXIII's election to the Pontificate. In his own way, Papa Giovanni was a great communicator - as if by charm,. he dispelled so many prejudices against the Church and the Pope, and opened a new season for the Church. This is a wish that I hope may be proposed today between the Church and the world of information, thanks to the progressive make-over of Osservatore that we have started.