At the end of the first year of immediate preparation for the Great Jubilee of 2,000, which surrounds the demanding appointment called by John Paul II for the entire Church, we can say on the communications level, that by now a real and effective integrated system of information has been consolidated. It is already up and running, even if its destined to develop further in a step-by-step process as the Jubilee event gets closer and brings with it new needs or highlights the necessity of developing single sectors of intervention.

At the origin of the project is the necessity of putting the contents of the Jubilee into focus, just as the Holy Father underlined in Tertio Millennio Adveniente. On this basis, an embryonic information structure was outlined in 1996 and actually put into practice was one of the first concrete plans of the anti-preparatory phase, just as soon as the Central organisms of the Jubilee were constituted. In this phase, a triennial publication was laid out which calls for the commitment of appropriate instruments for its realization.

Thus, next to the magazine Tertium Millennium, which has reached its second year of life, after the three "zero editions" of 1996, and the six editions published last year, and parallel with that is the Bollettino-agenzia TM, published in Italian, French, English and Spanish, and which also had a first edition in Polish. And at least the multi-media aspect is taken care of:

-along with the diffusion of the Magazine, there are audiocassettes from the Central Vatican Television, with visual and audio illustrations on themes of the Jubilee and the activities of the Holy Father;

-the access to the Internet, with the texts of Tertium Millennium appearing on the web site of the Vatican in English and Italian, and under the site Jubilee there is already a history of the Holy Years, their meanings and a synthesis of the TMA and its structure;

-the collaboration with the wire DEI of Vatican Radio, which has extended the access to Tertium Millennium to the 12 international agencies already present in the wire service transmitted in the various organism of the Holy See;

-of the preparation in course, information pieces and services which will be inserted in the Televideo and Teletext of the various news stations, both public and private.

There is also a development in the horizontal sense with regards to the information system, which consists in using the materials of the National Committees of the various countries (articles, studies, summaries of the activities of the Commissions and the Central Committee), which can be received either through the magazine Tertium Millennium, published in Italian, or on a floppy disk in English, regularly sent to everyone. Up to now, with regards to Poland, Canada, Spain, Latin America and Romania, the National Committees have published local magazines in which they have taken all or part of the information material of Tertium Millennium, contributing in this way, for their part, to the realization of the two main objectives of the magazine: to be an organ of connection between the Central Committee and the National Committees and to be an instrument of work of the pastoral workers, in every latitude.

With reference to the contents taken from the information system of the Jubilee, they mirror the indications of the Tertio Millennium Adveniente, at least for that which focuses on the preparatory phase. The main point, above all, is the communication system, in fact, which aims to develop the themes proposed year after year by the Apostolic Letter in the best way possible and of the subsequent interventions by the Holy Father, in the belief that none of the many themes tied to the Jubilee of the end of the millennium have a scarce impact on public opinion. Part of TMA's essence is the invitation to draw attention to the consciences of the modern world and the great themes on which humanity questions itself in this transition phase from one millennium to another. The great challenge, largely underlined in the Apostolic Letter, of ecumenism, the prospective of inter-religious dialogue, the changing panorama of the ideological and historical visions, the new pastoral horizons based on the new evangelization, the witness of extraordinary martyrs, ancient and modern, the difficult transition of society towards the end of the century: it deals with many grand chapters which delineate the guide-book of the year 2,000.

In the Year of the Holy Spirit, the dominating theme of the preparation for the Jubilee will be developed in each edition of the magazine, with particular attention given to Ecumenism in the reality of the world, and of culture. We will also be covering important events in the life of the Church already on this year's calendar, just as much space will be given to the preparation for the Jubilee in the world, to the activity of the Commissions and Committees, as well as reviews of publications by different publishing houses. Following this criteria, the integrated system of communications for the Jubilee will provide the diffusion of these themes according to the criteria and the modality of each instrument used.