Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, speaks at a May 2, 2023, press conference. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ACI Prensa
Vatican City, Jul 18, 2024 / 10:18 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Thursday added two new vice directors to the s… […]
The Vatican’s chief comms officer on Friday defended his department’s use of an accused serial rapist’s art. “We’re not talking about abuse of minors,” said Dr. Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication of […]
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Washington D.C., Aug 9, 2022 / 16:34 pm (CNA).
Last fall, Catholics around the world began gathering in church basements and school gyms to, in the words of Pope Francis, “look others in the eye and listen to what they have … […]
St. Peter’s Basilica. Bohumil Petrik/CNA
Vatican City, Jun 16, 2021 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Wednesday appointed an Italian priest and philosopher as an “ecclesiastical assistant” to the Vatican’s communications department.
Forty-year-old Fr. Luigi Maria Epicoco, from the southern Italian region of Puglia, is the author of more than 20 books and a frequent radio and television guest.
He also speaks at conferences and leads retreats throughout Italy.
With his new role in Vatican communications, Epicoco will also be a columnist for the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
During his annual Christmas speech in December 2019, Pope Francis gifted Epicoco’s book, “Someone to Look To: For a Spirituality of Witness,” to members of the Roman Curia.
Epicoco has been a priest of the Archdiocese of L’Aquila since 2005. He was a university chaplain in the archdiocese when the area was hit by the devastating 2009 earthquake which killed more than 300 people.
Last year, he oversaw the publication of an Italian-language book, “St. John Paul the Great,” featuring Pope Francis’ reflections on his Polish predecessor.
Pope Francis began a major reform of Vatican communications in 2015. The dicastery is responsible for overseeing all of the Vatican media operations, including Vatican News, Vatican Radio, L’Osservatore Romano, and the Vatican publishing house.
In July 2018, the pope named Paolo Ruffini, then director of the Italian bishops’ television network TV2000, as the department’s first lay prefect.
Ruffini’s appointment followed the departure of Msgr. Dario Viganò, who stepped down after he was discovered by media to have altered an image of a letter from Benedict XVI. Viganò continues to work in the communications department in an advisory role.
Another lay man, Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli, was appointed editorial director for the Dicastery for Communication in December 2018.
On May 24, Pope Francis paid a visit to the Vatican News and L’Osservatore Romano offices.
While there, he greeted the 300-some Vatican communications employees and spoke live on Vatican Radio about the importance of reaching an audience.
The pope said: “There are a lot of reasons to be worried about the Radio, L’Osservatore, but one that touches my heart: How many people listen to the Radio? How many people read L’Osservatore Romano?”
He compared the operation to “a mountain that gives birth to a mouse.”
“The question you should ask is: how many? How many people do [the programs] reach? It is always a danger that … you are well organized, do good work, but you do not reach people,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis speaks to Italian bishops’ conference meeting in Rome on May 24, 2021. / Screenshot
Rome Newsroom, May 24, 2021 / 11:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis met with Italy’s bishops Monday as the national bishops’ conference began a general assembly to “start a synodal journey.”
The pope gave unscripted remarks as he opened the Italian bishops’ spring assembly on May 24, speaking to a conference hall full of bishops for roughly five minutes before the live video feed of his speech was abruptly cut off by Vatican Media.
Before Pope Francis began speaking, he could be heard over the microphone asking those on stage if journalists were present in the room. When the response was negative, the pope replied: “Good, so we can speak freely.”
Earlier in the day, Pope Francis visited the offices of the Vatican Dicastery of Communication and spoke live on Vatican Radio about the importance of Vatican media reaching the people.
The pope said: “There are a lot of reasons to be worried about the Radio, L’Osservatore, but one that touches my heart: How many people listen to the Radio? How many people read L’Osservatore Romano?”
“Because our work is to reach the people: that what we work on here, which is beautiful, it is great, it is laborious, reaches the people, both with translations and also with short waves.”
In the broadcast portion of Pope Francis’ unscripted remarks to the Italian bishops, the pope said that Italy’s synodal journey must “begin from the bottom up” in parish communities.
“This will require patience. It will require work. It will require us to let the people speak so that the wisdom of the people of God may emerge because a synod is not something other than making explicit what Lumen Gentium states,” the pope said.
Pope Francis also told the bishops that he was happy with the steps they had taken regarding diocesan tribunals and stressed the importance of seminary formation.
“There is a very great danger in making mistakes in formation,” he said. “We must use prudence in admitting seminarians.”
The pope returned to Vatican City after his visit to the Italian bishops’ conference meeting at the Ergife Palace Hotel and Conference Center in Rome, where he also prayed evening prayer with the assembled bishops to open their 74th General Assembly.
The theme of the assembly taking place May 24-27 is “Announce the Gospel in a time of rebirth: To start a synodal journey”.
Cardinal Bassetti, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, told the pope at the start of the assembly that the bishops’ national “synodal path wants to walk in harmony with that of the Synod of Bishops.”
“It is also an opportunity for our churches in Italy. In fact, in every particular church, the holy and Apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and at work.”
Vatican City, Mar 27, 2021 / 07:00 am (CNA).- The Vatican Dicastery for Communication has released a book marking the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” blessing as the coronavirus pandemic swept the world. Pope Francis pre… […]
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