50th anniversary of Vatican Radio is celebrated in this 1981 promotional film made by the Sacred Heart Program and directed by Richard Welch, “Listen, All Nations.” The film includes footage from a papal audience with Pope John Paul II (starting at mark 01:00) interspersed with audio from the event. The Pope is shown at mark 01:33 greeting the faithful from the back of a papal vehicle. A brief history of the network begins at mark 02:20 with an image of Pope Pius XII as he delivered the first radio message. It is explained how broadcasts are made in a variety of languages to provide news, interviews, Biblical dramatizations, and music. Film footage of various radio broadcasts follow as one radio employee explains that ideas for shows can come to employees at any time and at any place (mark 05:22) before taking the camera to the Santa Maria Di Galeria broadcast facility for Vatican Radio (mark 06:12), about 11 miles from St. Peter’s Basilica, where more footage from radio broadcasts in different languages is shown. Pope John Paul II is shown again beginning at mark 11:43 as he walks down a line of well-wishers, blessing them, before he addresses the crowds.
The
Vatican Radio (Italian: Radio Vaticana) is the official broadcasting service of the Vatican.
Set up in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave (also DRM), medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. Since its inception, Vatican Radio has been maintained by the Jesuit Order. During World War II and the rise of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Vatican Radio served as a source for news for the Allies as well as broadcasting pro-Allied propaganda.[citation needed] A week after Pope Pius XII ordered the programming, Vatican Radio broadcast to an incredulous world that Poles and Jews were being rounded up and forced into ghettos.
Today, programming is produced by over two hundred journalists located in 61 different 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 Father Federico Lombardi, S.J.
On Saturday 27 June 2015 Pope Francis, in a motu proprio (“on his own initiative”) apostolic letter, established the Secretariat for Communications in the Roman Curia, which absorbed Vatican Radio effective 1 January 2017 ending the organization’s 85 years of independent operation.
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