#CNMC11 Keynote: Seán Patrick Lovett

Sean Patrick Lovett

This presentation was given at the 2011 Catholic New Media Conference. Below are my notes on the presentation:

Marconi & Vatican Radio

  • Nobel prize winner contacted by the Pope (Pius XI) to help with Vatican communications.
  • He was the inventor/innovator (Steve J.) of the early 1900s.
  • He helped Pius XI set up Vatican Radio (more than 80 years old).
    • VR broadcasts in 40 different languages.
  • VR continues because:
    • Courage and flexibility, no matter what!
    • Only radio station in the world that was denouncing the Nazi regime.
    • Shortwave, to medium wave, to satellite radio, to podcast, etc.
    • Collaborates with Vatican Television (youtube.com/vatican). Live information, news.va integration, etc.

Iconic Images

  • BXVI using iPad to send the first Papal Tweet.
  • JPII sending the first Apostolic Letter via a laptop.
  • "If the Pope can do it, so can we."

Progress and Adaptation

  • 1995: Vatican went online with three servers (Archangels).
  • JPII was the most media-friendly Pope in history; question is still out how much he used media and how much media used him...
    • Last letter: "Rapid Development" - hails the new advances in Internet.
    • Church beginning to realize there's a brave new world (Digital Continent) being built within this world.
  • "Is it good, and is it useful."
    • These are the two questions the Vatican asks when considering new forms of communication.
    • (These are the questions Rev. Lombardi asked about the iPod)
    • Does it further the Kingdom of God? Does it improve the human race?
    • Paul VI: "What use is it having a magnificent instrument if you don't use it or put it to magnificentuse?"
      • It is up to us to use these instruments magnificently.
  • Vatican Bloggers Conference (2011) - good to meet...
  • Document on technology use in seminaries is still under progress.
  • Vatican istrying.
    • Vatican is a pyramid (one to many, monologue, slow) / Internet is a sphere (many to many, fast)
    • How can the Vatican compete with 'the social network'?
    • Vatican.va, News.va, Pope2You doesn't do what new media does: The Pope isn't going to respond...
      • It's not that we don't care, it's that we don't dare.
      • There are no 'like' options.
    • The Vatican has the identity of an organization that is part of a network, but it is not theNetwork.
      • Vatican will always choose quality over quantity, technique over technology, understanding over knowledge.
      • "Never before have we known so much and understood so little."
  • The Pope
    • One of the few leaders in the world today who has so much worth listening to.
    • The Vatican tries to make sure that everything the Pope says can quickly reach the most people in the fastest way possible.
  • Vatican Player
    • Go to vaticanradio.com to get the Vatican Player (7 languages).