VATICAN CIT
PR Week
by Ian Griggs
The Vatican, an institution not best known for its culture of openness, has announced the formation of an 11-strong committee to be led by Chris Patten that will oversee the modernisation of its communications.
The heart of the Catholic establishment has a long history and recent years have seen the Church endure the storms of scandal after scandal, with public outrage expressed over claims priests abused children, corruption at The Vatican bank and unsavoury links with mafia bosses.
But the election of Pope Francis 15 months ago has not only brought the winds of change to The Vatican’s bureaucracy, The Curia, it has also brought about something of a renaissance in how the world’s media, and by extension the public, view the institution and the man who leads it.
Pope Francis is saying all the right things, eschewing most of the trappings of office and castigating those within the Church who regard it as a route to a comfortable existence.
It is perhaps for this reason that the Vatican has decided to seize the moment and capitalise on the mood of public goodwill felt towards the Pope by modernising and adapting its communications to meet the needs of the 21st century.
“The Vatican is waking up the fact that it spends a lot of comms money on Vatican Radio and TV, which is like bringing a knife to a gun fight in the era of social media – that time has passed,” says Ben Ryan, a researcher at the religious affairs think-tank Theos.
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