New Catholic TV and radio directory launched online

Rome, Italy, Feb 3, 2009 / 18:26 pm

The president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, announced this week the launching of a new internet directory of Catholic TV and radio stations throughout the world.  The new site, for now only available in Spanish, is at http://www.intermirifica.net.

According to the L’Osservatore Romano, the new directory, named after the historic Vatican II decree published on December 4, 1963 on the social communications media, will also be translated into French and English and later will include “newspapers, news agencies, podcasts, and Catholic university departments.”

Still in its testing phase, the site is being managed by the “Pontifical Council for Social Communications in collaboration with CELAM and Signis.” Archbishop Celli made the announcement in Dallas, where he was invited to speak on the role of the media in evangelization.

During his remarks, the archbishop recalled that the Church is “already present” on the internet, “but we are only at the beginning of the journey.” He said Catholic media is called to “develop a more strategic and integrated presence, to move together in order to assure an effective, articulate and coherent presentation of the Good News, and to appreciate the communion between the thousands of initiatives that are emerging. Each one has its own charism and mission, but each is called to reflect the universal mission of the Church.”

Archbishop Celli also recalled the late Cardinal Avery Dulles who argued that communication is not only an activity of the Church but constitutes her very essence: that is, it unifies and gives meaning to all the aspects of ecclesial life.  “This is particularly true in evangelization,” the archbishop explained.