The Vatican is to upgrade its communications strategy to rise to the "digital challenge" of the 21st century, one of Britain's most respected Catholic lay men said last night.
Lord Patten of Barnes, who is a former chairman of the BBC Trust and a member of the Vatican Media Committee set up adapt Holy See communications to the modern era, said it would be "bizarre" if the Church did not reform its media operations.
He indicated that the present Council for Social Communications could be absorbed into a new dicastery or congregation for communications and media, with several new departments including media operations, technology, commercial, admin and pastoral.
"It would be bizarre if the Vatican was to run its media with its eyes closed to the way every other media organisation is managed in the second decade of the 21st century," he told journalists after the annual World Communications Day Mass at St Patrick's, Soho. "It would be beyond bizarre to deny the Vatican the sort of modern media operation that others – including existing national church organisations – take for granted."
The Vatican media committee was set up in July 2014 with a mandate to propose reforms. The precise objectives were "to adapt the Holy See media to changing media consumption trends, enhance coordination and achieve, progressively and sensitively, substantial financial savings."
Lord Patten did not address the fact that Pope Francis himself has not watched television since making a promise to the Virgin Mary in 1990. In addition, the Pope has achieved his reputation for being a world class communicator despite never logging into the internet. He does read a newspaper – Italy's La Repubblica – but for just ten minutes in the morning.
Lord Patten said: "We were always conscious that Pope Francis is an extraordinary communicator himself and it made us realise how much the rest of us have to do – to use a sporting phrase – to up our game. We wanted to propose a communications structure that would be worthy of him."
Lord Patten confessed he had been hesitant at first at taking on the job. "I was recovering from a heart by-pass operation and had been advised by doctors to avoid too much stress, especially when that stress was not enjoyable!" He does not consider himself as a "Vaticanista" and in addition had been described by one blogger as a "Tabletista", which was not a compliment.
He revealed that the committee met several times between September last year and March this year. They decided against cuts in the staff of 600 because this would not be "ethically appropriate".
Instead, they pledged to improve the public impact and reach of the Holy See's media activities and to spend the money better rather than spend less of it.
"We recognised that most people, including many Catholics, depend on the mainstream or secular media for news about the Church and that their perceptions and views are heavily influenced by these media. We need to be more responsive to these media if we wish to engage the wider public and to be faithful to the Church's missionary call," he said.
