She\u2019s 90 years old, and she speaks 41 languages. Vatican Radio, the \u201cgrandmother of radio stations\u201d, has brought the voices of the popes, and the teachings of the Catholic Church, to people around the world since Feb. 12, 1931. <\/p>\n
From papal elections to papal trips, Vatican Radio was there, covering moments of joy and terror: like the assassination attempt against John Paul II on May 13, 1981.<\/p>\n
SE\u00c0N-PATRICK LOVETT For nearly half of Vatican Radio\u2019s 90 years, Se\u00e0n-Patrick Lovett\u2019s voice provided a connection between the English-speaking world and five popes. But it was an unexpected conversation with a group of teenagers in a refugee camp in South Sudan, some years ago, that helped him realize the massive outreach and impact of Vatican Radio\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n SE\u00c0N-PATRICK LOVETT These are the world\u2019s peripheries. These are the people society often overlooks. But even there, in a remote corner of the world, the Church\u2019s voice can be heard\u2026on a wind-up radio.<\/p>\n SE\u00c0N-PATRICK LOVETT At 90 years of age, Vatican Radio continues to adapt to new technologies so that the pope's words of encouragement, and the Church\u2019s love and compassion, can continue to reach as many people as possible - no matter who, or where, they are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 12, 2021. The mission of Vatican Radio? \u201cBringing words of hope, consolation and comfort to people who otherwise feel invisible,\u201d according to Se\u00e0n-Patrick Lovett, former head of Vatican Radio's English section for 43 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/lWnONXxlYDM","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bvaticanradioeng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bvaticanradioint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45641"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Former Head of Vatican Radio's English Section
\n\u201cWe were about to go on the air when the shots rang out in St. Peter\u2019s Square. And we heard that the pope was shot. We thought he was dead. And many of the programs, the language programs at Vatican Radio, didn\u2019t go on air that evening because people were so devastated. They shut themselves up in their offices and cried at their desks.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Former Head of Vatican Radio's English Section
\n\u201cAnd when they hear I come from Rome, they stop me and say, \u2018That\u2019s where the pope lives.\u2019 And I go, \u2018How would you know that?\u2019 And they say, \u2018We know because we listen to his voice on the radio.\u2019 And they take me to one of their huts, and they show me. There\u2019s a wind-up radio, one radio in the hut. And every day they tune in to the radio and they listen to Vatican Radio.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Former Head of Vatican Radio's English Section
\n\u201cAnd when I was leaving they said, \u2018When you go back, will you give the pope a message?\u2019 I said, \u2018Of course.\u2019 \u2018Would you tell him that every time he speaks about us, whenever he mentions us refugees, we feel less invisible.\u2019 And so if you ask me what the mission of Vatican Radio is and has been, it\u2019s bringing the words of hope, consolation and comfort to people who otherwise feel invisible.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n