Thanks to a discount from Sony
and a contribution from the Knights of Columbus, the Vatican television
center has a multimillion-dollar high-definition mobile television
studio, which will be operational in time for the pope's Christmas
midnight Mass.
The Vatican unveiled the mobile studio -- a 45-foot-long, 18-wheel truck
with 16 workstations -- after a news conference Nov. 16.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican television
center and the Vatican press office, told reporters the mobile studio
and its all-HD equipment were worth just more than $6 million.
Sony
Italy gave the Vatican a discount of more than $1 million; the Knights
of Columbus contributed more than $1 million; and the television center,
CTV, covered the rest.
Father Lombardi said he knows people may think the project was too
extravagant or too expensive, but with television broadcasters around
the world moving to high definition, "the image of the pope would
gradually disappear from the world of television over the coming years."
CTV is responsible for all video images of the pope taken at the
Vatican; the television center provides those images to broadcasters and
filmmakers around the world.
If the Vatican's production values do not meet the standards of
broadcasters, he said, "we, in fact, would be blocking the broadcast of
the image and, therefore, the message of the pope."
Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, told reporters
Nov. 16 that the U.S.-based fraternal and service organization has been
"privileged to have a role in bringing the good news of Christ to the
world through the medium of television in cooperation with the Vatican
for the past three decades."
The Knights cover the Vatican's satellite uplink costs for major papal
liturgies -- including at Christmas and Easter -- and subsidize the
download costs for television stations in poor countries.
The new truck, Anderson said, is part of the "unbroken Catholic
tradition of bringing the good news of Christ to the greatest number of
people possible in the clearest manner available."
Father Lombardi said there is a continuing dialogue at the Vatican
between communications professionals and papal liturgists to find ways
to meet the needs of both. For example, Pope Benedict XVI's altar often
has high candlesticks and a crucifix that block camera shots and the
pope has insisted on having moments of silence during the Mass.
The silence makes television directors nervous and can send radio
producers into a panic because it can appear they've lost their signal,
Father Lombardi said. In dealing with the silence, the television people
add cameras to provide a variety of images, but it is still a challenge
for radio, he said.
Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications, also spoke at the news conference and said the new HDTV
service is just one part of the Vatican's ongoing effort to reach a
wider audience in formats people use today.
He said the Vatican's "pope2you" website is undergoing a complete
makeover and, by early December, would feature comments and reflections
from young people who were involved in Pope Benedict's recent visits to
Portugal, Great Britain and Spain.
Archbishop Celli also announced that the Vatican is developing its own
multimedia, aggregated news site.
The site will be a one-stop Internet
portal for news and features from CTV, Vatican Radio, the Vatican
newspaper, the Vatican press office and Fides, the news agency of the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The new site does not have a name yet -- although "Vatican News" is a
common suggestion, he said. Also, progress has not advanced enough to
announce a launch date.
SIC: CNS/INT'L