In July 2009 Vatican Radio started running commercials for the first time in its 78-year history interspersing the pope s messages with ideologically sound publicity spots. The first ads from Italian energy giant Enel aired on July 6th only in Italian but the station said it would also run ads in English Spanish French and German. Previously it wasn t realistic to run advertisements since Vatican Radio had limited broadcast times on short-wave stations said the Rev. Federico Lombardi the head of Vatican Radio and the Vatican s chief spokesman. Now though the pope s broadcaster runs 24-hour programming on FM stations in much of Italy and via the Internet for the rest of the world. Founded in 1931 Vatican Radio broadcasts the pope s messages and news of the Catholic Church and current affairs in 40 languages around the world. Rev. Lombardi also director of the Vatican Press Office said the Holy See s aim wasn t purely to make money but also to collaborate with other institutions and introduce new forms of communications. An Italian communications firm specialising in publicity for Catholic media MAB.q will screen potential clients for quality and ethical content and propose them to the Vatican officials said. On July 17th Pope Benedict XVI emerged smiling from Umberto Parini hospital in Aosta after undergoing surgery for a broken wrist due to a fall at his Alpine vacation chalet. Doctors said his right arm would be in a cast for a month. A Vatican statement said the 82-year-old pope fell in his room overnight. Despite the accident Benedict celebrated Mass and had breakfast in the morning before going to the hospital the Vatican said. Also in July it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI will release an album on which he sings and recites prayers to the Virgin Mary his record label said. The pontiff s as-yet-untitled album also includes eight original pieces of contemporary classical music GeffenUniversal said. The Pope is accompanied by the Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome recorded in St. Peter s Basilica in the Vatican. It s composed of eight tracks all of them featuring his voice. He is speaking in the majority of it but he s also singing in some of it said Ricardo Fernandez General Manager at GeffenUniversal records in London. The original compositions are performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded at London s Abbey Road studios. The album was not a Vatican initiative but was arranged with Multimedia San Paolo an Italian Catholic media group. Proceeds will go to fund music education for underprivileged children around the world. The album is due for release on November 30th. On September 26th Pope Benedict XVI arrived on a courtesy visit to Czech President Vaclav Klaus the first day of his three-day pilgrimage in the Czech Republic. Earlier in the day the Pope arrived at Prague s Ruzyne International Airport where a welcome ceremony was held. During the ceremony Benedict spoke of how the commun

• published: 04 Nov 2013
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