The Vatican television service set up by the late John Paul II
is celebrating its 30th birthday as it adapts to the new style of Pope
Francis.
"We are putting technological innovation at the service of the new
evangelisation," Dario Edoardo Vigano, a priest and director of the
Centro Televisivo Vaticano (CTV), said on Friday.
CTV is updating its HD video platform and is soon set to adopt
ultra-HD for the best quality images of masses, ceremonies and
popemobile tours.
The service is also digitalizing some 20,000 video cassettes covering
all the major historic events at the Vatican of the past 30 years.
These range from a meeting between pope John Paul II and then Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989 to his funeral attended by millions of
people.
There are more recent events being remastered in the archive too like
Benedict XVI's last trip from the Vatican by helicopter as pope or the
first appearance of newly-elected Francis.
The Argentine pope has shown a strong desire to interact as much as
possible with his followers and CTV is having to change its filming
style.
Cameras have been placed in the middle of the crowd, there are more
close-ups of his face and images of him speaking to ordinary faithful.
Vigano said CTV aims to communicate "the great emotional intensity of the pope's meetings".
"There is a renewal in terms of language, it is like a new aesthetic of directness," he said.
CTV, which started on October 22, 1983 only has 22 employees but its
broadcasts have been transmitted by television stations around the
world.