Kerala - Kochi   

Jubilee bells for Vatican Radio

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The Ruby Jubilee celebrations of the South Asia service of the Vatican Radio were held here at the Pastoral Orientation Centre, Palarivattom, on Saturday with a meeting of listeners, a seminar on the effectiveness of radio as a medium to reach the masses and a public meeting called the Vatican Tharanga Sangamam.

Guglielmo Marconi, who made the Radio happen, set up the Vatican Radio. Pope Pius XI inaugurated it in February 1931. Since then it continues to be on air broadcasting programme in 47 languages across the world focussing mainly on activities of the Pope and the Holy See. It also broadcasts news and analyses on global developments and church activities.

Today, the Vatican Radio also delivers audio on demand over the Internet as well as live web casts. Indian broadcasts started in May 1965. Jesuit priest Alfy Ben currently heads the South Asia section of the Vatican Radio and also looks after the 20-minute broadcasts every morning and evening in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and English. Urdu programmes are telecast twice a week.

The Vatican Radio operates to spread the message of human oneness, brotherhood and unconditional love even as it confronts a world increasingly beset with violence and crime.

The Vatican Radio was instrumental in broadcasting over 12,50,000 messages from the families of those in Nazi prisons during the Second World War with the help of the Red Cross. This is an example of its dedication to the cause of peace justice, said an official associated with the Vatican Radio's liaison office in Kochi.

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