Archbishop traces history of church in communications

Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications spoke on Friday about the history of the Church work in communications. He was speaking at a meeting that studied Consecrated Life and the culture of communications and the Magisterium of the Church in the field. In his talk, which focussed on a brief history of the Church in the field of communications, the archbishop listed six phases: 1. the Bible, which with Gutenberg, became the first book printed with movable type; 2. printing, which made possible the multiplication of books; 3. the birth of periodicals, including religious ones, among which is the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano; 4. the advent of the cinema in the 1890s; 5. the founding of Vatican Radio and 6: the establishment of the Vatican Television Centre in 1983 by Pope John Paul II. The Archbishop said "we should pay attention not only to the Holy Father's words about communications, but also to his example as a communicator. He is effective and credible because he is authentic." Source: VIS