The story of the origin of Vatican Radio provides a unique look at the history of World War IIThe book offers the first wide-ranging study on the history of Vatican Radio from its origins (1931) to the end of Pius XII's pontificate (1958) based on unpublished sources. The opening of the Secret Vatican Archives on the records regarding Pius XII will shed light on the most controversial pontificate of the 20th century. Moreover, the recent rearrangement of the Vatican media provided the creation of a multimedia archive that is still in Fieri.This research is an original point of view on the most relevant questions concerning these decades: the relation of the Catholic Church with the Fascist regimes and Western democracies; the attitude toward anti-Semitism and the Shoah in Europe, and in general toward the total war; the relationship of the Holy See with the new media in the mass society; the questions arisen in the after-war period such as the Christian Democratic Party in Italy; the new role of women; and anti-communism and the competition for the consensus in the social and moral order in a secularized society.

The story of the origin of Vatican Radio provides a unique look at the history of World War IIThe book offers the first wide-ranging study on the history of Vatican Radio from its origins (1931) to the end of Pius XII's pontificate (1958) based on unpublished sources. The opening of the Secret Vatican Archives on the records regarding Pius XII will shed light on the most controversial pontificate of the 20th century. Moreover, the recent rearrangement of the Vatican media provided the creation of a multimedia archive that is still in Fieri.This research is an original point of view on the most relevant questions concerning these decades: the relation of the Catholic Church with the Fascist regimes and Western democracies; the attitude toward anti-Semitism and the Shoah in Europe, and in general toward the total war; the relationship of the Holy See with the new media in the mass society; the questions arisen in the after-war period such as the Christian Democratic Party in Italy; the new role of women; and anti-communism and the competition for the consensus in the social and moral order in a secularized society.

As soon as Jubilees, or Holy Years, appeared on the 14th century historical stage, they became the papal monarchy’s most relevant political and economic instruments. Since the 20th century, jubilee celebrations have also proved to be extraordinary moments of confrontation, though not always easy or unambiguous, between the papacy and the rapidly developing mass audiovisual media. On the one hand, the jubilees have served as catalysts for attention towards the Vatican, amplifying the traditional reasons behind the attraction of the Eternal City as a destination for imposing pilgrimages and as a theater for spectacular liturgical ceremonies. On the other hand, the Holy Years have provided the opportunity for the Holy See to experiment through audiovisual media with new ways of interpreting and unfolding the universal mission of the papacy, finally freed from temporal concerns.This volume aims to reconstruct this complex and little-investigated connection by drawing on a variety of sources from the Vatican archives as well as little-known audiovisual sources. Focusing on one hundred years of history (1900–2015), the events of both ordinary and extraordinary jubilees are analyzed from the perspective of each of the audiovisual mass media: cinema, radio, and television.

The story of the origin of Vatican Radio provides a unique look at the history of World War IIThe book offers the first wide-ranging study on the history of Vatican Radio from its origins (1931) to the end of Pius XII's pontificate (1958) based on unpublished sources. The opening of the Secret Vatican Archives on the records regarding Pius XII will shed light on the most controversial pontificate of the 20th century. Moreover, the recent rearrangement of the Vatican media provided the creation of a multimedia archive that is still in Fieri.This research is an original point of view on the most relevant questions concerning these decades: the relation of the Catholic Church with the Fascist regimes and Western democracies; the attitude toward anti-Semitism and the Shoah in Europe, and in general toward the total war; the relationship of the Holy See with the new media in the mass society; the questions arisen in the after-war period such as the Christian Democratic Party in Italy; the new role of women; and anti-communism and the competition for the consensus in the social and moral order in a secularized society.

The story of the origin of Vatican Radio provides a unique look at the history of World War IIThe book offers the first wide-ranging study on the history of Vatican Radio from its origins (1931) to the end of Pius XII's pontificate (1958) based on unpublished sources. The opening of the Secret Vatican Archives on the records regarding Pius XII will shed light on the most controversial pontificate of the 20th century. Moreover, the recent rearrangement of the Vatican media provided the creation of a multimedia archive that is still in Fieri.This research is an original point of view on the most relevant questions concerning these decades: the relation of the Catholic Church with the Fascist regimes and Western democracies; the attitude toward anti-Semitism and the Shoah in Europe, and in general toward the total war; the relationship of the Holy See with the new media in the mass society; the questions arisen in the after-war period such as the Christian Democratic Party in Italy; the new role of women; and anti-communism and the competition for the consensus in the social and moral order in a secularized society.

As soon as Jubilees, or Holy Years, appeared on the 14th century historical stage, they became the papal monarchy’s most relevant political and economic instruments. Since the 20th century, jubilee celebrations have also proved to be extraordinary moments of confrontation, though not always easy or unambiguous, between the papacy and the rapidly developing mass audiovisual media. On the one hand, the jubilees have served as catalysts for attention towards the Vatican, amplifying the traditional reasons behind the attraction of the Eternal City as a destination for imposing pilgrimages and as a theater for spectacular liturgical ceremonies. On the other hand, the Holy Years have provided the opportunity for the Holy See to experiment through audiovisual media with new ways of interpreting and unfolding the universal mission of the papacy, finally freed from temporal concerns.This volume aims to reconstruct this complex and little-investigated connection by drawing on a variety of sources from the Vatican archives as well as little-known audiovisual sources. Focusing on one hundred years of history (1900–2015), the events of both ordinary and extraordinary jubilees are analyzed from the perspective of each of the audiovisual mass media: cinema, radio, and television.