Lyon - 2005

In 2005, the SIGNIS World Congress took place in Lyon, France from November 4 to 11 on the theme “Peace through Media”.

Over 200 Catholic media professionals from more than 65 countries and five continents, met for this Congress.

During a public conference on “Media for a Culture of Peace” held on November 5 and 6, they called for a fundamental change in the way we communicate through the media to contribute to a world of peace, respect and solidarity. The conference closed with a Mass for Peace celebrated by Mgr Roland Abou Jaoudé of Lebanon.

From November 7 to 8, a series of workshops brought together Internet, radio, film and media education professionals, as well as Catholic TV producers and representatives. These workshops aimed to inspire the priority programmes of the association for the next 4 years.

The Congress concluded on November 9 and 10 with the SIGNIS Assembly of Delegates. The Delegates elected Augy Loorthusamy of Malaysia as the new President of the organisation and Peter Thomas of Australia and Gustavo Andujar of Cuba as Vice-presidents. They also welcomed the new secretary general of SIGNIS, Marc Aellen of Switzerland, who had been appointed by the Board a few days before. He is succeeding Robert Molhant, who is retiring after 27 years at the service of the association.

The SIGNIS Congress was also attended by representatives of the International Union for Catholic Press (UCIP), the World Association for Christian Communications (WACC), the International Lutheran Federation and Interfilm. Archbishop john Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications blessed the gathering in the name of Pope Benedict XVI.