Vatican News is the new information system of the Holy See. It began on June 27th, 2015 with the publication of a Motu Proprio by Pope Francis which announced the creation of a new Dicastery of the Roman Curia: the Vatican Secretariat for Communication.
Vatican News goes beyond the idea of simple digital convergence by responding to, and even anticipating, the continual changes concerning where and how we communicate. It finds its expression and interaction on a platform that is multilingual, multicultural, multichannel, multimedia, and multi-device.
There are four categories providing information on the activities of the Pope, the Vatican, local Churches, and world news updates. A “super editorial team”, initially composed of six language departments (English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese), will later expand to include another 33 languages. Their purpose is not just to inform, but to offer a key to interpreting news and information in the light of the Gospel.
The challenge is to respond “ever better to the needs of the mission of the Church” in our contemporary culture, with the aim of “communicating the Gospel of mercy to all peoples” according to their different cultures.
The guiding criteria are those of being “apostolic and a missionary, paying special attention to situations of hardship, poverty, and difficulty”. (Address of Pope Francis to the Plenary Assembly of the Secretariat for Communication, May 4th, 2017)
The Prefect of the Dicastery is Dr. Paolo Ruffini and the Editorial Director is Dr. Andrea Tornielli.