Vatican Radio turns eighty years old with an exhibition and a new multimedia approach

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Vatican Radio, an exhibition on the history of the first radio station of the Holy See opens in Rome today. In response to new needs, now Vatican Radio together with the Press Office, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and the Vatican Television Center will launch a new multimedia portal.

“I have the highest honor to announce that in a few moments the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI will inaugurate the Vatican City State Radio Station.” With these words Guillermo Marconi, inventor of radio, gave rise to what would be the first intervention by a pontiff on the airwaves of Vatican Radio. It was four in the afternoon on February 12, 1931.

Now, eighty years later, an exhibition on the history of the Vatican's first radio station, where more than 400 professionals work today, opens in Rome. The exhibition “Around the world in 80 years. Vatican Radio 1931-2011” opens this Thursday at the Vatican Museums.

Multimedia project

In the coming months the Holy See will launch a new multimedia news portal. The portal will include the service that is now developed separately by the Vatican Press Office, Vatican Radio (RV), the Vatican Television Center (CTV) and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (PCCS).