Has the long-overdue reform of Vatican media operations been sidetracked?

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Apr 30, 2015

Pope Francis has formed a new commission to implement proposals for a reform of the Vatican’s media operations . That’s good news, I suppose. Or is it?

The April 30 announcement from the Vatican press office about this new commission did not provide details. What will this new commission do? How does it differ from another special commission, forned only last year, which just finished its work, providing recommendations for reforms? According to the press office, upon reviewing the report submitted by the first commission, the Council of Cardinals “proposed His Holiness the institution of a commission to study this final report and to suggest feasible approaches to its implementation.” Didn’t the first commission give any attention to feasible plans for implementation of its recommendations?

In short, the April 30 announcement raises more questions than it answers. If the ultimate goal of a reform in the Vatican media operation is to encourage candor and clarity, it’s obvious that the reforms haven’t taken effect yet.

Yet there’s a more important reason for concern about today’s news. The original commission was composed of recognized experts in the fields of media and communications, drawn from institutions around the world. The new commission is made up of clerics currently involved in the Vatican’s media operations—along with one executive of the newspaper owned by the Italian bishops’ conference. This is very much an in-house bunch.

Let’s review the sequence of events:

1. Vatican officials saw the need for a thorough overhaul of the Vatican media operations, which were (and are) uncoordinated, outdated, and generally ineffective.
2. The Pope called upon a group of outside experts to study the situation and propose changes.
3. Those experts submitted proposals—about which we know virtually nothing.
4. Then the task of implementing those proposals was assigned to a group of insiders—a group composed of people who are involved in the current, messy operations.

Does that sound to you like a practical plan for sweeping changes? Or does it sound more like a bid to sidetrack serious reform?

I hope that I’m wrong. I hope that the new commission has been instructed to carry out the suggestions of the old commission, and to do so quickly. But today’s announcement has me worried.