Vatican Radio towards the great jubilee
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Mass-Media Committee

VATICAN RADIO TOWARDS THE GREAT JUBILEE

Federico Lombardi

It is not easy to explain briefly how Vatican Radio is accompanying its listeners along the path of preparation for the Jubilee. The 25 sections of the Papal Radio Station produce programmes very different from each other, addressing a variety of cultures and situations.

But naturally the basis of this service is to make known all that the Pope is saying and doing to guide the Church along this path. In fact by listening to his homilies, his teaching, his words at the Angelus and in many different occasions, we are able to tune in to his spiritual wave-length and orientate ourselves towards this focal point of his ecclesial ministry in these final years of the millennium.

Furthermore, Vatican Radio gives regular information on the main activities of the Central Committee for the Jubilee, by means of programmes, frequent interviews with its President and Secretary General, with presidents and authoritative members of Commissions and Committees. Conferences, meetings, celebrations are the constant object of attention by Vatican Radio's central news service, while the different language programmes follow more specifically preparations in the respective world regions for which they are responsible.

Besides the "informative" aspect, many language programmes reserve space for catechetical, cultural and spiritual contents to meet the requirements of their listeners and suited to the nature of the programme itself. In the impossibility of being able to give an exhaustive description of all the initiatives, we offer a few examples.

The Italian programme "Christian Horizons" is known for its Lenten series called "Radio-Lent", offering authoritative texts by bishops, theologians and biblical scholars. In 1997 the theme has been "Proclaiming Christ", and in the coming years, following the Trinitarian plan proposed by the Pope, it will concentrate on the Holy Spirit, the Father and then the Trinity. The texts used by this programme also serve as a valuable basis for many other language sections: they are translated, summarised and adapted to the culture and the mentality of the different audiences. Again following the Trinitarian plan, "Christian Horizons" has begun another interesting series: "The mystery of the Trinity in Art", which illustrates the mystery and its significance through figurative art starting, also in this case, with iconography depicting the Son of God.

Another series of weekly programmes, "Protagonists of 2000", offers catechesis on the Jubilee Year focusing each week on preparations in dioceses in Italy or other countries. The French programme for Europe has undertaken an ambitious three-year project to prepare pilgrims for the encounter with Christian Rome. Over the weeks the programmes will present Rome through 20 centuries of Christianity, from the times of the Apostles down to our day, highlighting places, monuments, and historical memories, illustrating their spiritual importance by means of descriptions, talks and interviews with experts. Whereas another series, again weekly, "Chronicles of the Year 2000" , focuses more on what is happening regarding efforts for Christian conversion and commitment in our every day lives: here too, talks, interviews meditations help to describe the Church's journey towards the new Millennium.

The Spanish programme directed towards Europe, besides its usual features, has begun a special half-hour weekly programme explicitly requested by numerous diocesan Catholic radio stations, which re-transmit Vatican radio programmes. It provides above all regular reports on the Holy Father's speeches and teaching on the Jubilee, which it explains and applies by means of interviews, debates and information.

The German section on the other hand has chosen an original way of underlining preparation for the Jubilee: starting from the Autumn of 1996, through each of the 40 months of waiting, an outstanding historical figure, accompanies the listeners on their journey towards the encounter with Christ. This is done generally at the end of the regular programmes, through brief, but incisive words of patriarchs, prophets, and saints of the Catholic Church, as well as non-Catholics and even non-Christians, to emphasize the expectation of the entire world.

Another proposal made by the Holy Father, taken up by the German programme and not only, is to recall the Christian testimony of martyrs of our century, in the dramatic events in our modern world. While the German programme concentrates specifically on the martyrs of Nazism, the many other language-programmes for central and eastern Europe help to remember the martyrs of Communism, the Latin American programmes remind us of those martyred for commitment to social justice, the programmes for Africa recall martyrs in mission lands and the hatred of which much of the continent has fallen victim.

The English programme has undertaken a series on how Rome is preparing for the Jubilee from various different points of view, spiritual, cultural and also regarding organization.

The list of initiatives could continue; we hope that the examples mentioned will suffice to give an idea of the number and variety of ways in which it is possible to answer the Pope's call to prepare for the Jubilee. What is more, some fundamental dimensions of this preparation such as reconciliation, or ecumenical dialogue, are interwoven daily not only in all Vatican radio's programmes but also in our attitude and manner of presentation.

When we speak of Vatican Radio and preparation for the Jubilee, there is also a third aspect to remember, which is not yet present in our programmes. It is the Radio's preparation for the actual Jubilee events here in Rome.

During that period, intense activity will be demanded of the Radio from a technical point of view, if it is to provide sound-production of the all the celebrations and audiences in the Vatican and the other Basilicas. It will have to guarantee live-transmission with commentary in different languages for the more important events in which the Pope takes part. It also intends to provide various language programmes for pilgrims in Rome, coming from all over the world, offering information, but above all helping them to live a profoundly spiritual experience.

It is not difficult then to see the commitment which is required of Vatican Radio starting from now, to plan and co-ordinate projects with many other institutions so as not to reach the appointment unprepared for such an exceptional event as the Year 2000.

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