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The Second Vatican Council and the Media: The Holy See and the Challenge of Information Management During the Last Ecumenical Council

José María Díaz-Dorronsoro

Münster: Aschendorff Verlag (2024), VII, 489 pp.

"The book [...] is a significant and original contribution to both social sciences (media and communication studies) and theological disciplines (Church history, institutional communication, pastoral theology and media theology). Its value is justified from several important research perspectives. F ... irstly, the book provides a historical and communicative account of the Holy See’s information policy management during the Council. The author views Vatican II as the most significant media event organized by a religious institution, considering its duration, impact on millions of the faithful and the global media interest it generated. This event is interpreted not only as an ecclesial occurrence of the highest rank but also as a media and communicative phenomenon of unprecedented scale. Such historic moments test both internal communication (amongst the Council Fathers) and external communication (public communication, media contact). Díaz Dorronsoro’s publication fills a gap by shedding new light on the Holy See’s communication after such a considerable period. Secondly, the author elucidates two dimensions of the event, termed by Pope Benedict XVI as the ‘Council of the Fathers’ and the ‘Council of the Media’. The latter denotes the informal, superficial reception of the Council by the mass media, which significantly influenced public perception. This ‘Council of the Media’, perceived by some as a ‘paracouncil’, gained particular significance during the third and fourth sessions, exerting greater force and influence on public opinion and even the opinions of the Council Fathers [...] Díaz Dorronsoro, with scholarly objectivity, demonstrates the concrete institutional practices through which the Vatican information services attempted to reconcile the requirements of discretion, necessary for the Fathers’ freedom of speech, with the growing pressure for transparency and the justified expectations of the media. He analyzes how the media, exemplified by the American weekly ‘Time’, created a superficial interpretation of the Council as a struggle between a ‘hero’ (Pope John XXIII) and a ‘villain’ (Cardinal Ottaviani). He also describes the controversies surrounding journalists like Robert Kaiser. This thread explains the complex feedback loops between reporting and social reception, helping to understand why certain disputes received symbolic over-interpretation in the public sphere while others, equally important doctrinally, remained in the media’s shadow. Thirdly, the publication enables a detailed analysis of the internal mechanisms of the Council Press Office and the Press Committee. This is addressed primarily in the first part, ‘The Management of Conciliar Information’, where Díaz Dorronsoro focuses on the complex operation of managing the Council’s official information, which required developing new standards of institutional communication. This section provides an insightful lesson in the history of media and communication of the Holy See and in communication management during a globally significant event. The author details the intricate path the Holy See followed to meet the considerable demand for information and manage difficulties." (Review by Krzysztof Marcynski ,in: Church, Communication and Culture, vol 11, issue 1, 2026, pp. 152-155) more

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Papi, Vaticano, comunicazione: Esperienze e riflessioni

Federico Lombardi

Milano: Àncora; La Civiltà Cattolica (2021), 178 pp.

"Qual è lo stile di comunicazione degli ultimi papi? Quali strumenti ha usato il Vaticano per comunicare e quali problemi incontra chi ne è responsabile? P. Federico Lombardi ha passato molti anni in questo servizio e ci racconta la sua esperienza in rapporto ravvicinato con Giovanni Paolo II, Ben ... more

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‘Dear Hindu Friends’: Official Diwali greetings as a medium for diplomatic dialogue

Melanie Barbato

Religion, volume 50, issue 3 (2020), pp. 353-371

"This article discusses greeting messages as a genre of interreligious communication. Greeting messages are defined as official communication issued by religious institutions and addressed to the members of another religious community on the occasion of specific feast days or anniversaries. Drawing ... more

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Religious Internet Communication: Facts, Experiences and Trends in the Catholic Church

Daniel Arasa, Lorenzo Cantoni, Lucio Adrián Ruiz (eds.)

Rome: EDUSC (2010), 250 pp.

"The authors present a broad corpus of data and suggest some potential theoretical patterns for their interpretation. Through this they invite the readers to look with a critical eye at their research and draw their own conclusions as to the potential implications these forms of usage have for the C ... more

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Chiesa e Media: Bibliografia

Città del Vaticano: Pontificio Consiglio delle Comunicazioni Sociali (2005), 32 pp.