VATICAN CITY, JULY 22, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Mother Teresa’s beatification, planned for the same day the silver anniversary of John Paul II’s pontificate will be celebrated, will be turned into a worldwide television event, Vatican sources say.
The Pontifical Council for Social Communications has released information for broadcasters regarding coordination of telecasts of the Mass to be celebrated by the Holy Father for the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and to mark the 25th anniversary of his election to the papacy.
On Sunday, Oct. 19, from 7:55 a.m.-10:30 a.m. (GMT), John Paul II will celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the beatification and the silver anniversary.
It will not be the first time that a Vatican celebration has a worldwide audience. The opening of the Holy Door at Christmas in 1999 was one of the major television events of all times.
Television coverage of these ceremonies, for worldwide distribution, will be provided by RAI (Italian Radio and Television) in cooperation with the Vatican Television Center and coordinated by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
These telecasts will be available in Europe through the EBU (European Broadcasting Union-Eurovision); in the rest of the world through INTELSAT; and in parts of Latin America, also through PANAMSAT.
Television networks and stations which wish to take part in these worldwide telecasts are asked to contact:
–in Europe:
RAI, Eurovision Office
Laura Maggiore
Telephone +39 06 3317 0053/2814
Fax +39 06 3317 1151
e-mail: eurovision@rai.it.
–in Latin America:
OTI (Organización de la Televisión Iberoamericana)
Darío De la Peña
Fax +52 55 5281 1564/280 7847
e-mail: otiprogramas@hotmail.com
or Telespazio (see below), if necessary.
–elsewhere in the world:
Telespazio
Sergio Bernardi
Telephone 39 06 4079 3487
Fax +39 06 407 1790
e-mail: customer_ support@telespazio.it.
The Pontifical Council for Social Communications will make available, for those who request it, commentary for the celebrations in any one of the following languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Ukrainian; RAI will make available commentary in Italian.
Television networks and stations which, for technical reasons, cannot make use of satellite audio signals can contact, for telephone circuits with the Vatican:
Telecom Italia
Joseph Soureal
Telephone +39 06 3689 4067/4657
Fax +39 06 3689 4506/4413
For fully equipped positions for television commentators in the Braccio di Carlo Magno, next to St. Peter’s Basilica, interested networks and stations are asked to contact Laura Maggiore at RAI (see above).
The Council for Social Communications will cover the technical expenses for satellite uplink.
For developing countries which find themselves in particular difficulty, on recommendation of the respective papal representative, the council will cover downlink expenses, but not the expenses for local/national transmission of the programs.
