Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the
Laity, and Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical
Council for Social Communications, issued a joint statement on the name
change of the International Catholic Union of the Press.
The statement, posted on the social communications council's website
July 21, said the new group has "misappropriated the intellectual,
economic and historical patrimony" of the former International Catholic
Union of the Press, known by its French initials, UCIP.
"After many decades of effective service to evangelization through
print media," the statement said, UCIP "in recent years has experienced a
progressive crisis management."
"The Holy See has repeatedly expressed to the authorities of UCIP its
bewilderment at the unacceptable lack of transparency and accuracy in
the management of this association, under the control of its secretary
general. These facts led the Pontifical Council for the Laity on March
23 to revoke the canonical recognition of UCIP as a Catholic
association," the statement said.
Cardinal Rylko and Archbishop Celli said UCIP's only reaction to the
Vatican's move was to transform UCIP into the International Catholics
Organization of the Media, keeping the UCIP logo and website.
The clerics said the councils of the laity and social communications
were "studying new ways of forming an association of journalists who
wish to remain in communion with the Catholic Church."
A statement emailed from the new organization July 25, said
consultations were held in March and April among members who continued
to pay their dues to UCIP.
"More than 75 percent of the voting members said a clear 'yes'" to
changing the name and rewriting the statutes of the organization, the
statement said.
A general assembly is scheduled for November to vote on new bylaws, it said.
Members chose the noun "Catholics" in the organization's title
instead of the descriptive "Catholic," giving "the members greater
autonomy," it said. The statement also said the organization is
"preparing to establish a new relationship with the Holy See."
In the meantime, the Pontifical Council for the Laity has invited
some Catholic journalists and communicators to the Vatican in late
September to discuss the possibility of forming a new association
recognized by the Vatican.
In a letter to invitees, Cardinal Rylko said, "the Catholic
apostolate within the media continues to be a valid and most necessary
mission."
"In today's global age, more than ever we strongly believe that
journalists have a major role" to play in promoting the truth and
informing consciences, he said. Catholic journalists "can be all the
more effective if they are united in their efforts to permeate the media
with the truth of the Gospel."