St. Maximilian Kolbe, a communicator in the press, radio and audio-visual materials, and Blessed Titus Brandsma, a Carmelite and Dutch journalist, were among the candidates discussed this week during the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
Other names included St. Paul and St. Isidore of Seville (died 636), who was renowned for his encyclopedic knowledge.
The Church is also looking for a patron saint for the cinema. Bishop Pierfranco Pastore, secretary of the communications council, told Vatican Radio about the proposals made to date.
«Together with the already existing patrons of radio [St. Gabriel], television [St. Clare], and the press [St. Francis of Sales],» he said, «we have received grass-roots requests, so to speak, for a patron for Internet, the cinema and the media in general.»
Bishop Pastore said that the petitions come «from the dioceses and local Churches, to which we give due attention. Before giving a list of names to the Pope´s Secretariat of State, we decided to hear the opinion of consultor members of our council.»
