Vatican City, Feb 20, 2005 / 22:00 pm
This morning, Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, presented a new Apostolic Letter from Pope John Paul II entitled, 'Rapid Development’, addressed to “Those Responsible for Communications.”
Archbishop Foley was joined by, Bishop Renato Boccardo and Angelo Scelzo, respectively secretary and under-secretary. The Pontifical Council begins its annual plenary session today.
Archbishop Foley said that both he, as a priest journalist, and Pope John Paul, as bishop and conciliar father, were in St. Peter's Basilica on December 4, 1963 for the promulgation of the Vatican Council II decree on communications, "Inter mirifica."
The Archbishop noted that it was "the first time a council of the Church specifically treated the theme of social communications, the decree called for a pastoral instruction on social communications and the document also called for establishing a specific Vatican department which would be concerned with all the means of social communication."