 | |
| Broadcast area | Worldwide |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Format | News, religious celebrations, in-depth programs, andmusic |
| Affiliations | World Radio Network |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Dicastery for Communication of theRoman Curia |
| History | |
First air date | 12 February 1931; 94 years ago (1931-02-12) |
| Technical information | |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°54′14″N12°27′01″E / 41.9039°N 12.4503°E /41.9039; 12.4503 |
| Links | |
| Website | vaticannews.va/radio |
Vatican Radio (Italian:Radio Vaticana;Latin:Statio Radiophonica Vaticana) is the officialbroadcasting service ofVatican City.
Established in 1931 byGuglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out onshort wave,DRM,medium wave,FM,satellite and theInternet. Since its inception, Vatican Radio has been maintained by theJesuit Order. Vatican Radio preserved its independence during the rise ofFascist Italy andNazi Germany.
Today, programming is produced by over 200 journalists located in 61 countries. Vatican Radio produces more than 42,000 hours of simultaneous broadcasting covering international news, religious celebrations, in-depth programs, and music. The current general director is FatherFederico Lombardi,S.J.
On 27 June 2015,Pope Francis, in amotu proprioapostolic letter, established theSecretariat for Communications in theRoman Curia, which absorbed Vatican Radio effective 1 January 2017, ending the organization's 85 years of independent operation.[1]
Vatican Radio began broadcasting with the callsign HVJ[2] on two shortwave frequencies using 10kilowatts (kW) of power on 12 February 1931, with the pontificial message "Omni creaturae" ofPope Pius XI.[3] Also in attendance wasGuglielmo Marconi and Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who would becomePope Pius XII.[3] Its first director wasphysicistGiuseppe Gianfranceschi, who was also the president of theAccademia dei Nuovi Lincei.
In 1933, a permanentmicrowave link was established between theVatican Palace and the summer residence of the papacy,Castel Gandolfo.[3]
In 1936, theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU) recognized Vatican Radio as a "special case" and authorized its broadcasting without any geographical limits. On 25 December 1937 aTelefunken 25 kW transmitter and twodirectional antennas were added. Vatican Radio broadcast over 10 frequencies.[3]
Following a December 1939 report from CardinalAugust Hlond ofPoznań detailing the oppression of the Catholic Church in Poland, Pope Pius XII decided, among other measures, to use Vatican Radio to provide "information regarding the condition of the church in Poland." The German broadcast on 21 January 1940 compared German activities to "what the Communists imposed on Spain in 1936"; the English service noted the attacks on the Church were not limited to the Soviets.[4]
DuringWorld War II, Vatican Radio's news broadcasts were (like all foreign broadcasts) banned in Germany. During the war, the radio service operated in four languages.
While some critics have said Pope Pius XII was too quiet regarding the Holocaust,[5] Jacques Adler examined the transcripts of wartime broadcasts over the Vatican Radio. Adler argues that it exposed Nazi persecution of the Church and opposed collaboration with Nazism. It appealed to Catholics to remain true to their faith's injunctions: to defend the sanctity of life and the unity of humankind. In so doing the Pope pursued a policy of spiritual resistance to Nazi ideology and racism.[6]
In 1948, services expanded to 18 languages.
Due to space constraints, theHoly See acquired a 400-hectare (1½ sq. mi.) area located 18 kilometres (11 miles) north ofRome atSanta Maria di Galeria (GC:42°2′39″N12°19′22″E / 42.04417°N 12.32278°E /42.04417; 12.32278). TheItalian Republic granted the site extraterritorial status in 1952.[3]
In 1957, a new broadcasting center was placed in operation, with aPhilips 100 kWshortwave transmitter, two 10 kW shortwave transmitters, and one 120 kWmediumwave transmitter, with 21 directional and oneomnidirectional antenna. The next phase involved two 100 kW transmitters aimed at Africa andOceania, a 250 kW mediumwave transmitter for Europe, and a 500 kW transmitter for the Far East and Latin America.[3]
Radio Vaticana was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of theEuropean Broadcasting Union in 1950.
In the 21st century, Vatican Radio has experimented with digital transmission technologies (DRM, T-DAB, T-DMB) and has used electronic newsletters, podcasts, and other new technologies to distribute its programming. Vatican Radio and CTV began their own YouTube channel in 2010, operating in four languages, and operates six Twitter accounts.
In May 2009 it was announced that Vatican Radio would begin broadcasting commercial advertisements for the first time in July. The decision was made to meet the radio's rising costs, namely 21.4meuros a year. All advertisements would have to meet "high moral standards".[7] Vatican Radio stopped transmitting short- and medium-wave broadcasts toNorth America,South America, andEurope on Sunday 1 July 2012. TheVatican Press Office closedVatican Information Service in August 2012.[8]
In 2014 Michael Gannon, from Ireland, became the first person with Down Syndrome to work at any Vatican office, which he did as an intern at Vatican Radio.[9][10]
As of 2016, Vatican Radio had a staff of 355 people who produce more than 66 hours of daily programming in 45 languages on air, and 38 languages on the website. Programs are broadcast via short wave, FM and satellite.
Vatican Radio has been losing between €20 and €30 million annually. With its absorption into the Curia's Secretariat for Communications on 1 January 2017 Vatican Radio director Msgr.Dario Viganò has indicated that he plans to pare down short-wave radio operations and institute cost control measures in the service's other broadcast operations.
On 24 March 2017, Vatican Radio made its final English-language shortwave transmission toAsia after 59 years of service. Vatican Radio's English Service for Asia has then continued online.
During the 1930s, the station made experimental television broadcasts. Apart from a brief experimental revival in the 1950s (callsign HVJ, started 1953. Channel 8 on the French standard for VHF, had plans to switch to the standard used in the rest of Europe),[11] it was not until the 1990s that a regular 'satellite' television service began. The programs ofTV2000 include programming fromVatican Television Center.
Vatican Channel HD is available in English and Italian on the satellite through Eutelsat Hot Bird 13°est (11334 MHz, pol.H, Sr 27500,3/4)[12] as well as onterrestrial TV in theRome metropolitan area, and Vatican Media Europe multilanguage on Hot Bird 13B (12475 MHz, pol.H, Sr 29900, 3/4).
Vatican Radio Europe is available via satellite through Eutelsat Hot Bird 13°est (12476 MHz, pol.H, Sr 29900, 3/4)[13] and Radio Vaticana 5, in Italian Eutelsat 9B (12466 MHz, pol.V, Sr 41950, 3/4).
The signals are transmitted from a large shortwave and medium-wave transmission facility for Radio Vatican. The Santa Maria di Galeria Transmitter was established in 1957 and it is an extraterritorial area inItaly belonging to the Holy See.[14] Vatican Radio'sinterval signal,Christus Vincit, is a well-known sound on shortwave radio.
One aerial for the medium wave frequency 1530 kHz which consists of four 94-metre-high (308 ft) grounded freestanding towers arranged in a square, which carry wires for a medium wave aerial on horizontal crossbars. The direction of this aerial can be changed.[15]
From May 2014 to December 2016 the antennas of Santa Maria di Galeria were progressively decommissioned, which radiated the medium wave signal on 1530 kHz with programs destined for Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean area.[16][17]
The Santa Maria di Galeria transmitter site is the subject of a dispute between the station and some local residents who claim thenon-ionising radiation from the site hasaffected their health.[18]
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