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Catholic TV Congress Begins "New Era"

Madrid, October 13, 2006 (Zenit.org) - The first World Congress of Catholic TV launched a new phase in Catholic media, according to Archbishop John Foley.

Msgr Romero Pose at the Madrid Congress (JPEG) Speaking Thursday at the closing day of the media congress, the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications said that this new era "will include the best of our previous efforts, but for which we must have... bold faith and trust in God’s providence."

Organized by the Vatican’s media dicastery, in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Madrid, the three-day congress drew some 300 people from 50 countries. It was held in Madrid, from October 10 to 12. The theme of the Congress, "The Rapid Development", referred to the last apostolic letter of John Paul II, as Pope Benedict XVI reminded in his message addressed to the participants:

"Television reaches countless persons, cultures and nations, who are brought close to one another by the audiovisual medium. Through today’s communications network, organizations have greater opportunities to promote their products quickly and efficiently. When all these opportunities are creatively utilized by the genius of humankind (cf. Inter Mirifica, 1), they can serve as an occasion to defend the dignity of every person, to promote peace, solidarity, unity and communion within the human family. In this respect, the late Pope John Paul II indicated the way forward for the Church with his apostolic letter, The Rapid Development (Jan. 24, 2005), which has been chosen as the theme for the present congress."

Archbishop Foley said that "it is up to us to maintain and stimulate the relationships of aid and cooperation that each of us has established ... through the concrete projects which were born or strengthened here."

He said that the Pontifical Council for Social Communications will also "study other forms of continuity that would be desirable."

H2O

Jesús Colina, director of ZENIT news agency, presented on Thursday a new television news service called H2O News (http://www.h2onews.org), developed in cooperation with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

He said the news service will offer Catholic television stations short video clips in various languages, and a television news program in six languages, that will report on the Pope and news coming from the Vatican.

H2O News will also work with the Vatican Television Center.

TV bank

Silvia Costantini, director of Sat2000’s institutional and international relations, the television network of the Italian bishops, presented a program bank that will provide free programming for Catholic television stations.

Costantini, the project’s promoter, explained that it is "a work promoted by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications," in collaboration with the Vatican Television Center and other Catholic television stations around the world.

At the close of the congress, the bank already had 139 titles available. The programs will be distributed through the Internet.

Networks

Leticia Soberon, of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, proposed on Thursday the formation of a network of Catholic television professionals.

"Despite the facilities of technology, networks do not weave themselves," she said, challenging the participants to take advantage of the congress to "open common spaces of collaboration with other individuals and entities."

It is the way to contribute to make "the information society not merely a society of data, but that it become a society of knowledge, that knowledge that sustains a more human, solidaristic and Christian life," said Soberon.

It is estimated that at present there are 2,000 Catholic television channels worldwide.

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