A Catholic media organization has lost its Vatican recognition because
of its leaders’ “unacceptable lack of transparency and clarity.”
“The
International Catholic Union of the Press (UCIP), after many years of
worthwhile service to the mission of evangelization through the press,
has in recent years been living through a worsening crisis of
governance,” Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko and Archbishop Claudio Celli said
in a July 15 announcement.
Cardinal Rylko is president of the
Pontifical Council for the Laity, while Archbishop Celli heads the
Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
Both Vatican councils have
followed the situation of the union.
The councils’ oversight
resulted in the invalidation of the union’s general assemblies, which
took place in Canada in 2007, in Rome in 2008 and in Burkina Faso in
2010.
On March 23, 2011 the Pontifical Council of the Laity
withdrew the canonical recognition of the organization as a private
association of the Christian faithful and notified the union’s president
of its decision.
The letter said the organization must remove the word
“Catholic” from its name.
On April 24, the union’s secretary
general announced that the UCIP would change its name to International
Catholic Organization of the Media.
It announced its first assembly will
take place in November 2011.
“This act has been strongly
disapproved of by the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the
Pontifical Council for Social Communications which do not recognize said
organization which continues to claim the title Catholic,” the
Vatican’s July 15 announcement said.
The new organization has also
“unjustly appropriated” the “intellectual, financial and historical
patrimony” of UCIP, including the logo and the website, the churchmen
said.
Aspects of the previous organization date back to the 1890s.
The union itself was founded and recognized by the Holy See in 1927.
The
leadership of the newly formed organization says it focuses on
“value-oriented journalism” and provides international networking and
educational opportunities for those in the media.
Its membership
is open to all media professionals and publications. On its website, it
names service to society, the Church and humanity at large as one of its
objectives.
The organization also notes its working relationship
with the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).
The Vatican statement said that both
pontifical councils are grateful to all the members of UCIP who have
been “disenfranchised by recent management.”
They have given “great
service” and the councils encourage them to “spread the Gospel in the
world of print media.”
Cardinal Rylko and Archbishop Celli gave
assurances that their councils are exploring new forms of association
for journalists who wish to remain in communion with the Catholic
Church.