VATICAN: Radio Vatican’s English Service to Africa Marks 70th Anniversary
Vatican Radio English Africa Service celebrates 70 years of Radio Vatican Broadcasts to Africa
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
As Vatican Radio English Africa Service marks 70th anniversary of broadcasts to Africa, Catholics media practitioners and other people who attended the event which took place virtually on Friday, July 17, have emphasized on authentic story telling calling on Catholic Communicators in Africa to say their own stories.
Addressing Catholic communicators during his opening remarks, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication Dr. Paolo Ruffini highlighted the significance of communication in the Church saying, “What you do as Church communicators is so great that it cannot be over emphasized.”
He echoed Pope Francis words during his last year’s address to employees of the Dicastery of Communication that, “for Church, Communicating is a mission,” hence communicators should realize that their ministry helps in “spreading the word of God.”
He further encouraged communicators not to be discouraged especially with the challenges they face when carrying out their responsibility.
“One of the challenges you face in the discharge of your duty is getting a timely, reliable, in-dependable news about the Church. This is a problem in a world full of fake news,” Dr. Ruffini the first layman to head a Vatican Dicastery stated.
He disclosed, “I’m glad to say that the Dicastery for communication is working towards creation of a Vatican News Agency and it will be a reliable source of news especially Church news.”
The webinar conference under the theme “story- telling as a tool to manage racial and social tribulation in Africa,” also focused on the topic “Black lives Matter.”
“We must deploy the cultural and literary resources of Africa to ensure that when writing the story of our life and continent we do not allow anyone else to hold the pen. We must weave a fabric that at the end of the day ensures that our authentic life becomes authentic history that can match that of any other people all over the world,” Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo who is President of the Pan African Episcopal Committee for Social Communications (CEPACS) stated.
Speaking on the topic “Master Weavers of African Stories-Promoting everyday heroes as solutions to African Challenges,” the Prelate who works for the Symposium for Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) said, “Weaving authentic stories about Africa requires of course that the “weaver” be well-acquainted with the fables, riddles, tales, songs, proverbs of Africa and stories worked in the past to build the African Society and its values and traditions.”
According to Ms. Sheila Pires a Media Practitioner based in South Africa, “Colonialism and apartheid are the root cause of violence in South Africa.”
“In order to heal our nation of the ongoing violence, we need to have ongoing dialogue about the impact of apartheid regime in our society especially the black communities,” Ms. Pires who is also Vatican Radio correspondent English African Service narrated.
Besides she added, “It is important to do away with patriarchy and empower both boys and girls and above all to instill back the spirit of Ubuntu (I am because you are) in our community,” Ms. Pires said emphasizing the why black lives matter.
Vatican Radio was established in 1931 by Pope Pius XI and later in 1950 the English language broadcasts to Africa were inaugurated.
