The Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica (Catholic Civilization) has new print and digital versions.
The Italian-language periodical was established in 1850 and is Italy’s oldest-running journal.
«Every 12 days for 163 years, it has published a journal of more than 100 pages,» the director, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro explained today at a press conference in the Vatican. «It is a cultural journal that features articles written only by Jesuits. Its editors are specialists but they use a language for readers who are not ‘experts.’”
“La Civiltà Cattolica hasn’t changed its format since 1970,» the director continued. «This is the first time in the journal’s 163 years that its graphic layout has been subjected to an actual and coordinated design plan, which covers from a restyling of the masthead … to a version for tablets. … In structural terms, the ‘cronache’ (reports) section will disappear, since our world is one in which reporting is entrusted to daily newspapers or even to real-time blogs and tweets. Instead, we will be focusing on ‘bridges,’ that is, on reflections, critical evaluations, reasoning, and even on the most current contemporary events, thanks to the ‘Focus’ section that will consist of articles tied to current events in politics, economics, the international stage, society, and law. Reflection on the Church will have a fixed place at the heart, that is the centre, of the journal. New sections, such as ‘Profile’ and ‘Interview,’ will be added.
«The journal will also become available for browsing on tablets with applications for iPad, iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire, and Windows 8. Right now it is possible to download the last two issues of the journal: the last one of the old version and the first one of the new version.”
«In addition, thanks to collaboration by Google, a project has been launched to make all the issues published from 1850 to 2008 accessible on the web. In fact, Google had digitalized the volumes for their Google Books project, through agreements with several libraries in Europe and the United States. The issues still protected by copyright law will now be made available by our authorization.”
