SIGNIS

Catholics and Cinema

In 1898 W.K.L.Dickson cinematographed Pope Leo XIII in the gardens of the Vatican. It was the first time that a Pope had been filmed.

Catholics were involved in the new art of cinema from its inception. In November 1895, the Catholic University of Louvain organised a screening of the Auguste and Louis Lumière films. In April - May 1898 the Englishman William Kennedy Laurie Dickson of the American Mutoscope & Biography Company cinematographed Pope Leo XIII in the gardens of the Vatican. It was the first time that a Pope appeared before a film camera and blessed it (and the spectators). Later when cinema became a regular and popular medium, Catholics, and above all the parish priests, reacted in two ways: condemning it or considering it as a tool of evangelisation with worldwide influence on families and, above all, on young audiences.^[21] In several countries worldwide, priests started to use cinema as part of their apostolate. Among them there was the Jesuit priest, known as Abbé Joseph Joye in Switzerland. Before the arrival of cinema he projected images with a magic lantern for schoolchildren, and from 1902 on he used cinema.^[22]

Early film producers like Pathé Frères found also inspiration in the Bible and in religions.

Early film producers like Pathé Frères found also inspiration in the Bible and in religions.^[23] Early 1907 an American film magazine published that from a modest beginning six or seven years earlier the films of the Passion of Jesus Christ became more and more popular every Lent, and were among the most expensive productions in the whole film world. It wrote also that in these years in the US most films of the Passion were coming from France and Great Britain.^[24] From 1910 on, almost every Belgian city had its Catholic cinema (called mostly Family cinema, or Patria). In these cinema halls, educational as well as entertainment films were on the programme, and the selection and screening were controlled by the organizers, mostly priests.

From 1910 on the Belgian priest Abel Brohée became active in the movement of Catholic Action. After the First World War, he started his apostolate into the world of Catholic cinema in Belgium as a distributor of films for Catholic parish halls. In 1928 he was the co-founder of the International Catholic Film Office (OCIC). He was elected in 1933 as president of OCIC and will remain its president until his death in 1947.

One of the Belgian pioneers was Abbé Abel Brohée, who was active in the Catholic Action Movement and began to bring order to these Catholic initiatives. By the 1920s, he was convinced that it was necessary to inform the public of the moral value of films. His aim was not to limit the action of Catholics to moral quotations. He wanted a presence "on all fronts". That is why, as early as 1921, he joined a group of Catholics who had founded a distribution agency under the name Brabo-Films. He became one of the leading personalities, as president of OCIC in the 1930s, in the field of cinema. OCIC itself was the result of international politics.^[25]

In 1919 the League of Nations was established in Geneva with the objective to prevent another world war by promoting a culture of peace and dialogue. This was not only a matter of politicians and diplomats but also and a matter of the cultural world. In 1922 a technical committee for culture, the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (CICI), was formed, with personalities like Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Gabriela Mistral and Henri Bergson, to shape the mind of the members of the League of Nations, for example, toward rectifying errors in text books which were alleged to be a mainspring of racial prejudices. Out of this committee came a permanent organisation to study the development of cinema as a tool of education. Only member states and international organisations were admitted to this organization. In 1926 the International Union of Catholic Women's Leagues (UILFC – since 1952 the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations, WUCWO) urged Catholics involved in cinema to build an international Catholic cinema organisation in order to have a say in the international film work of the League of Nations. This led to the founding of OCIC in 1928 with its first secretary general the French canon Joseph Reymond, who also became the secretary of the International Educational Cinematographic Institute (IECI) of the League of Nations.^[26] It was a way to counter the influence of those who had a negative attitude towards the Catholic world.

OCIC developed a complex but largely positive approach to this new art. It wanted to offer guidance to audiences and to discover and foster productions which promoted the same values as Christians did. It wanted to inform lay Catholics and others, in a professional way, about the moral and artistic quality of films, so that they could decide themselves if they would go and see a film or not. It was the beginning of film education. OCIC called for the creation of national organizations dealing with topics such as childhood, families, spirituality, religion and cinema, and film reviews (an early form of media education). It also expressed its intention to collaborate with the film industry. One of its concerns was the promotion of 'good' films, both for education and entertainment. This was one of the aspects put forward by the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XI on the Motion Picture Vigilanti Cura, published in 1936. The dominant perspective in this encyclical was cautious, defensive and moralising, following the approach of the Legion of Decency which had been founded by the US Catholic Church to launch a crusade against the "abuses" of the motion pictures. After the Second World War, the Vatican began to move closer to the approach taken by OCIC in the matters of cinema.^[27]

From 1947 to 1970, Father Bernard was president of OCIC (which later became SIGNIS). He had been secretary-general of OCIC from 1933-1947.

While Unda was much more involved in its development with specifically Catholic production for Catholic audiences, OCIC soon realised that film production was beyond the funds and technical abilities of its members. There were some hopes and flirtations with production in the early 1930s,^[28] especially in the Netherlands, but the members and leadership of OCIC saw that their work was in collaboration in promoting exhibition, distribution, review and critical writing on cinema.

During Cannon Jean Bernard’s presidency (1947-1972), the writing and reviews continued but the main development was the establishing of juries at international film festivals, in collaboration with the directors and boards of the festivals, beginning at the Brussels international filmfestival in 1947, and a year later at the Venice International Filmfestival. The OCIC jury at Cannes began in 1952. This enabled OCIC to develop its criteria for its awards over these years. One difficulty which emerged was a clash of perspectives on occasion with the decisions of the US Legion of Decency which had been set up (even with an oath of loyalty) by the American bishops in 1934, the time of the enforcement of the Motion Picture Code for all American film production. In the 1950s, the Americans indicated that some films which had won OCIC awards were rated Objectionable or Condemned by the Legion and were concerned at this difference in moral perspective. The philosophy behind the Legion of Decency was not influential in Europe, although the work of the Legion was acknowledged positively by Pius XI in his encyclical letter, Vigilanti Cura, 1936.^[29] Then with changes in what could be portrayed on screen and how it could be portrayed, Fr Bernard had to face a controversy concerning the OCIC prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1968, which resulted in discussions with Church authorities and the Vatican. The jury gave its prize to Pier Paolo Pasolini, avowed Communist, though winner of the 1964 award for his Gospel According to St Matthew, for his film, Teorema. The controversy was inflamed by another spark when the Berlin film festival 1969 award went to John Schlesinger’s Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Midnight Cowboy. This meant that after forty years of activity, OCIC was able to survive controversy, articulate its aims and objectives and establish itself as what might be called a ‘consciousness organisation’ within the Catholic Church. It did not set itself up as a censoring board (which many assume still when hearing that the Catholic church has a cinema organization). Later some of its members nationally or regionally were part of the work of the Bishops Conference, offering reviews, classifications and advice which depended for its authority more on the Bishops rather than OCIC.^[30]

Preservation of film also became a concern. The consequences for OCIC in terms of policy and power was that it could not be described as a ‘sacristy’ organization. Later, a succinct description of how OCIC saw its scope (as the president, Fr. Peter Malone, put forward at the audience with John Paul II at the time of the merger of Unda and OCIC in SIGNIS), as both supporting Catholics who work in cinema and being a bridge between the Catholic Church and the professional world of cinema. While explicitly religious films are appreciated, OCIC came to realize that well-made films grounded in humanity made the most impact – a policy of seeing ‘Christ in the Marketplace’. The image of the market-place was later embraced by John Paul II, referring to Paul’s mixed hearing in the Athens’ marketplace, the Areopagus (Acts of the Apostles, 17), that media is the ‘new Arepoagus’. This policy has guided OCIC and the film work of SIGNIS over the decades, leading to the presence of OCIC juries at world film festivals, national OCIC cinema awards, publications on the cinema of different nations (especially from Africa), movie reviews in publications and on-line, promotion of particular films, dialogue with directors and film-makers, and offering advice on the release of films with particular Catholic interest or controversies (from The Da Vinci Code to Antichrist).^[31]

From the 1930s on, the Vatican began to have a closer interest in cinema. With the letter of Pius XI in 1936, Vigilanti Cura, the official teaching of the Church on cinema was positive (even though the document began ‘With vigilant care’). Amongst the ideas put forward by Pius XI was one that would challenge philosophers and theologians, that cinema teaches the majority of men and women more effectively than abstract reasoning (no.23). Just over twenty years later, Pius XII issued the Encyclical letter Miranda prorsus (1957) where he urged his readers to learn how to understand and appreciate how film works. One might say that he is urging people to move on from being literate, literacy, to being visuate, to visuacy (no. 57, though the terminology is this author’s rather than the Pope’s). In 1971, a fuller document on communications and media following the Second Vatican Council and its Declaration on Social Communications, Inter Mirifica (1963), spoke about the spirituality dimensions to be found in cinema (Communio et Progressio, 1971, nos 142-144). Dialogue was a significant feature of the writings of Paul VI, from his first Encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam (His Church), 1964, to Evangelii Nuntiandi (Announcing the Good News), 1975.^[32].

OCICs' periodicals (1937-2001)

This is the introduction of the First newsletter of OCIC published at the general secretariat in March 1937.

1949 International Film Review - English version edited by the International Catholic Office for Cinema - There are also French, Spanish and German versions.

The first publication - newsletter (1937-1945) : In March 1937 the first Newsletter of OCIC was published in Brussels. It was only in French. It was mimeographed and produced in the office and the first issue counted five pages send by post to the members and other stakeholders. Although it was not in German the newsletter '''Informations de l'OCIC''' had also a German title '''Mitteilungen des Internationales Katholischen Filmbüro'''. When the war started in Belgium in May 1940 the publication didn't continue. It was picked up in November 1944 by Felix Morlion as "Les Formations de l'OCIC. Bulletin of the OCIC - Office Catholique International du Cinema - International Catholic Office for Film Affairs - Continuation of the Bulletin formerly published at 6 rue Traverstière, Brussels". Only a few issues were published and the last came out in 1947 when the situation in Belgium had become normal.

In 1949, the International Film Review(English Edition) and Revue Internationale du Cinéma (French Edition) was launched under the direction of André Ruszkowski and published in Luxemburg. Later, a Spanish edition was published in Madrid Revista Internacional del Cine- containing not the same articles as in its French and English edition. A German edition began at Trier in 1951. This important illustrated publication, directed after the departure of Ruszkowski by Pierre d'André and then by the Jesuit Emmanuel Flipo in Paris, reached more than 170 issues. In the first years it became world wide an eye opener for the professional film world and film journalists and film historians. It gave a lot of attention to non-american cinema: European, Asian, Latin American. In 1955 it published a special issue dedicated to filmology, the at that thime new way of approaching film analysis. In 1948 the OCIC board members did meet the founder of filmology in Paris Gilbert Cohen-Séat at the filmfestival in Venice. In 1973, through lack of funds, OCIC reverted to its bulletin OCIC Information published in French, Spanish and English - which had then existed already more than twenty years.

OCIC Info English version first year issue 1 published end 1952 - translated from the French version

After an issue 0 published in July 1952, OCIC did launch at the end of that year for the second time Informations of OCIC, result of a decission taken at the General Committee of OCIC at its Madrid meeting. There was obvious the International Film Review but this was the magazine which was mostly directed to the secular film world and to make clear that Catholic professionals were contributing and developping in a positive way to the international film culture. It needed a contact or an intern bulletin between the general secretariate and its members, the national catholic film centers. An information bulletin which was focussed upon the life and activities of OCIC itself containing reports on the international and national meetings, activities, discussions andso on. It was also published in French, Spanish and French.

In 1979 the new secretary-general Robert Molhant started again a quaterly magazine called first OCIC-Info in different language versions : French, English and Spanish, illustrated and printed on the own printing machine - offset press in Brussels. First transforming the internal bulletin into an international periodical for internal and external use. In 1988 it changed its name into CINE-MEDIA and gradually it became a trilingual international quaterly magazine. The need to have a new internal bulletin was feld and OCIC info did appear once more. It existed till the end of 2001, the moment OCIC merged with Unda into SIGNIS.

General Assemblies (World Congress) of OCIC and its international studydays

1928 : La Haye : Foundation of the International Catholic Office for Cinema

1929 : Munich  : With the BCIR first international Congress- General assembly of OCIC

1933 : Brussels : With the Belgian Centre Catholic d'Action Cinématogrpahique (CCAC) - reorganisation of the international organisation with international studydays

1938 : Vienna : Cancelled because of the international political situation - Anschluss of Austria by Nazi-Germany - OCIC was anti-nazi

1947 : Brussels : World congress of OCIC with international study days theme on Catholic Action in Cinema considered in the light of the teachings of the encyclical Vigilanti Cura

1950 : Rome : International study days on Spiritual values in the film profession

1951 : Luzern : International study days on Christian film critic

1952 : Madrid : International study days on Film education

1953 : Malta : International study days on Cinema and the Missions

1954 : Cologne : International study days on the moral classification of films

1955 : Dublin : International study days on the distrubtion and the influence of the moral classification of films

1957 : Havana: World congress with International study days on the promotion of good films by film associations

1958 : Paris : International study days on the promotion of good films for a broad public

1960 : Vienna : International study days on Cinema, youth and the governement

1962 : Montréal : World Congress with Unda and international studydays on creators of films and television productions

1964 : Venice : International study days on cinematographic exhibition and its function towards the audience

1966 : Cuernavaca : International study days at Ivan Illich’s center - CIDOC (Centro Intercultural de Documentación), on the apostolat of cinema in the light of the IInd Vatican Council

1967 : Berlin : International study days during the Berlin Filmfestival with Interfilm - the international protestant organisation for Film- on Communication creation, the sacred and cinema, the visualisation of the relations man and women in the film and the film for and with children

1968 : Beyrouth : World Congress of OCIC with International study days on Cinema at the service of evangelisation

1971 : Gwatt : International and interconfessionnal (with Interfilm)meeting in Switzerland on short films and audiovisual programmes at the service of the Christian message

1972 : Deauville : World Congress of OCIC with study days on Cinema and the human development - The name of OCIC is changed into International Catholic 'Organisation' for Cinema

1975 : Petropolis : World Congress of OCIC with international study days on Cinema as a communication instrument between human beings.

1977 : Munich : World Congress with international study days on cinema as a means of human promotion and the encounter between cultures.

1980 : Manilla : World Congress of OCIC with international study days on Cultural and social influence of foreign films

1983 : Nairobi : World Congress of OCIC with the common OCIC-Unda international study days on Communication and human promotion, the challenges today - with common studydays with Unda and the keynote speach of Sean MacBride

1987 : Quito : World Congress of OCIC with the common Unda-OCIC study days on culture, media and Gospel Values -with a keynote speach of the polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi

1990 : Bankok: World Congress of OCIC and Unda with study days on the new Media age and its challenge

1994 : Prague : World Congress of OCIC and Unda with study days on media and human dignity

1998 : Montréal : World Congress of OCIC and Unda with study days on creativity in the media sphere: spiritual opportunity

2001 : Rome : World Congress of OCIC and Unda - mergering into SIGNIS.

Catholics and Radio and Television

The Dutch Fr Lambert-Perquin o.p. founder of the KRO and first president of BCIR from 1929 to 1935.

Catholic radio producers had realized by the mid of the 1920s that radio had become, like cinema, an important means of spreading ideas, and could therefore influence the views of millions and connect them to Christian values. Already in December 1923 the radio world was waitng the first international move of the churches to bring religion by means of Radio to "humanity". This was put forward because in the Vatican the Pope was interested to spread the christian message to all over the earth. The Company of Guglielmo Marconi was already involved in building a radio to transmit the "voice of the Holly Father to almost every land". It became a race against time because the Protestants had the same plans to be present in the world via the new invention which was the radio.^[33]

In the USA the first Catholic stations went on the air in 1925 in Canton, OH; Yakima, Washington and East St. Louis. That same year the Paulist Fathers established WLWL, their own radio station in New York. The aim was acquainting the public with the Catholic viewpoint of Current Affairs". Fr Joseph MacSorley, superior general specified this in saying that the station intended to be the "official mouthpiece of everything Catholic. We want especially to reach isolated communities where there is no Catholic Church". ^[34] All lasted only a few years. That year the dominican Fr Lambert Perquin founded the Catholic Radio Broadcasting Company (KRO) in the Netherlands, as did the Socialist Association of Works Amateurs (Vara) and a ear later the Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting Company .^[35]

European Catholic broadcasters did meet for the first time in May 1927 in Cologne (Germany) while attending an international press exhibition organized by Dr Conrad Adenauer, the mayor of the city. They decided to gather again a year later to discuss the creating of a permanent international organization for Catholics in Radio. This meant not only catholic radio but also catholics working in non-catholic radio stations !. In 1928 they did found the Bureau Catholique International de Radiodiffusion (BCIR) in Cologne during their meeting in June of that year. The name BICR changed after the war into Unda. The president of BCIR was Fr Perquin; thre director was Msgr Bernhard Marschall, responsible for the Catholic radio in Germany and of the BCIR general secretariate in Colognie. At its first international congress (1929) in Munich, BICR drew attention to the importance of radio for religious, cultural and social life. It issued a blueprint for action: "Decisions for Catholics and Broadcasting”. It also established criteria for membership: "National Committees", representing Catholic individuals and groups professionally or pastorally engaged in broadcasting. In that spirit BCIR invited Catholics to collaborate with radio companies (private or public) in making religious programmes and to foster Christian values.^[36] In 1930 BCIR established formal liaison with the Geneva-based Union Internationale de Radiodiffusion. BCIR was also asked to help in organizing Vatican radio's first broadcast and to advise them in this new communication domain.

In the 1930s Catholic broadcasters worldwide had an optimistic view of the development of radio and, later, of the new medium of television. It could transcend frontiers and bring peoples and cultures together. It could be a means of exchanging cultural values, a way of fostering mutual understanding. Radio was thought of as the means par excellence for reconciling peoples, fostering fellowship among nations and promoting peace. Like OCIC, BCIR also developed different aspects of media education.^[37] Due to the arrival of the Nazis into power, the BCIR General Secretariat moved in 1935 from Germany to Amsterdam. Fr Perquin resigned and Msgr Marschall became the new president and the dutch dominican Fr John Dito o.p. of the KRO became the new General Secretary.

After World War II and during the succeeding decades these principles found new expression in radio and television activities. In 1946 BCIR changed its name to Unda, which is Latin for "wave". Its objectives were: to help coordinate professional and apostolic activities of Catholics in radio and television; to promote collaboration among members, through conferences, publications, information exchanges, research; to represent internationally the interests of members; to help meet communications needs of members; to help meet communications needs of the Third World; and to collaborate with non-Catholic organizations having similar objectives. In February 1958, for example, participants from twelve countries came together in the second ever International Television Festival (the first was the Prix Italia) in the world, organised in Monte Carlo by Unda. This TV festival was supported by Prince Rainier III who, inspired by this event, created the Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo three years later. Unda was asked to give a prize at this festival and this tradition has been carried on by SIGNIS.^[38]

From April 26-30 1954, Unda conducted an International Congress for Radio/TV specialists and professionals from thirty-two countries attented to talk about preaching via radio and televison, family and radio and television (with Fr Angnellus Andrew o.f.m, working for the BBC, andso on. At the end of the meeting The Unda General Assembly elected Fr Kors o.p. as president. Two months later Unda did found the Department of Television, which was a sub-secretariat directed in paris by the domincan Fr. Raymond Pichard o.p. He started to develop a network of eighty TV specialists in twenty countries and published a monthly International Catholic TV review. In February 1954 Unda organized the first International Catholic Conference for Television in Paris and had as theme "The Status of Catholic Television and its place within national broadcasting systems". Due to conference the first Eurovision broadcasting could be worked out. With the Eurovision officials at the European Broadcast Union the Pope could give a message in Italian, French, German, English and Dutch on Penticost Sunday.^[39]

Catholics and the Press

In the 19th century Catholic newspapers and magazines were founded in countries across the world. The first Catholic diocesan paper in the USA, for example, was The Catholic Miscellany launched in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1822.^[40] And in 1842 the first catholic newspaper Le Propagateur Catholique in Louisiane was French!^[41] Before 1914 there were Catholic journalist associations in the United States (CPA).^[42] Other publications were founded by religious orders and by lay Catholics with a desire to give a voice to the Church in the public sphere. Notable examples are The Tablet launched in Britain in 1840 by Frederick Lucas, a convert to Catholicism, The Universe launched in Britain in 1860 by Archibald Dunn, The Catholic Press an Australian newspaper. In Sri Lanka, the layman John Fernando founded the Gnanartha Pradeepaya Sinhala-language Catholic weekly as a four page broadsheet of Church news and papal speeches in 1865. In 1886, more than two decades after it started, Colombo Archdiocese became the weekly's official owner. It is one of the oldest Catholic newspapers in Asia. The Assumptionists launched La Croix as a daily newspaper in France in 1883. Before 1914 there were Catholic journalist associations in the United States (CPA), Belgium, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, and elsewhere. In Asia catholic newspapers appeared also. In 1927 young lay Catholics published The Catholic Times of Korea during Japanese colonial rule. At the end of 1927 the International Bureau of Catholic Journalists (later renamed the Federation of National Associations of Catholic Journalists) was founded in Paris.^[43] In 1928 the Permanent Commission of Catholic Publishers and Directors of Catholic Newspapers came into being in Cologne in Germany. More and more catholic newspapers were launched world wide in the coming years as the Malaysian bishops did on 5 January 1935 with the still existing Malaya Catholic Leader (MCL), published in Singapore.

In 1930 the first universal Congress of Catholic Journalists was organized in Brussels.^[44] They planned actions to train Catholic journalists, to establish Catholic press agencies and to come up with ways to develop the Catholic Press Action. In 1935 Pius XI did set up a World Exposition of the Press in the Vatican, the heart of fascist Italy in which there was no press freedom. That year it was decided to have formal statutes for the International Bureau of Catholic Journalists.^[45]. In 1935 the two organizations,the International Bureau of Catholic Journalists and the Permanent Commission of Catholic Publishers and Directors of Catholic Newspapers, federated into an international union of the Catholic press in Marseille.^[46] These statutes were presented to the Vatican at the 2nd International Congress of Catholic Journalists in September 1936 in Rome.^[47] In 1937 the Dominican Fr. Felix Morlion, linked with OCIC, proposed an International Newsletter of the film press, to be established in Breda where the secretariat of the International Union of the Catholic Press (IUCP/UCIP) was based.^[48] At the annual meeting of the directors of the IUCP in Budapest in 1938 it was decided that the III Universal Congress of the Catholic Press would be held in Poland in September 1939, but it could not be held due to the outbreak of the Second World War. Finally, the congress was held in Rome in 1950 with, for the first time, vice presidents from French Speaking Canada and the United States, although the CPA became a member only in 1955.

After the war the secretariat of the organisation was transferred to Paris. The fourth congress was held in Paris in May 1954, on the theme: "The Catholic press in the world, its mission, its future", with the participation of 250 journalists from 28 countries. At the UCIP congress in Vienna in 1957, with four hundred participants from 32 countries, it was stated that one of the aims of the Catholic press was to become a trusted source of information for non-Catholics. In 1963 Pope St. John XXIII declared in his encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) freedom of speech and publication to be a human right.

One of the significant congresses was the one held in 1965 in New York. It was UCIP's eight congress, held together with the 55th annual convention of the CPA, and 800 journalists including 600 from the United States discussed the theme: "The truth in the search for freedom." The discussions were about freedom in politics, in art, in the press and the relation between freedom and authority, freedom and civic rights and freedom and the international. order. Afterwards the name was changed to International Catholic Union of the Press (UCIP). At is fiftieth anniversary in 1977, the twelfth World Congress of UCIP was held in Vienna, bringing together 350 participants. It was preceded by a meeting of about fifty delegates from so-called third world countries. A major theme was the New World Order of Information and Communication (NOMIC). Its 18th World congress was held in Paris at UNESCO headquarters with some 1,000 Catholic journalists from all over the world together. Among about 400 members of UCIP´s young journalist network who had their own convention three days before the main World congress. Theresa Ee-Chooi of Malaysia was elected as the first woman president, was elected. It was also the first Asian and first non-European president.

On 19 September 2001, a few days after the attack on the World Trade Center towers, more than a thousand participants attended the twentieth UCIP Congress, at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, to discuss the theme: "The media at the challenge of globalization.” Congress delegates issued a statement in which they condemned terrorism as well as all acts of violence against innocent victims. They pleaded for dialogue, reconciliation and peace. The meeting of reporters, editors and professors of journalism and communication aimed to give “the opportunity to understand and analyze globalization in both its positive and negative effects.” Two days before the congress, the International Meeting of Young Journalists, a branch of UCIP, was held. Despite the reluctance of the Vatican, the UCIP adopted somewhat later new statutes that allow the reception of non-Catholics.^[15] Due to administrative mismanagement of the elections of the board of UCIP of 2007 at the 22nd Congress in Sherbrooke (Canada) and other issues, the Vatican withdrew recognition of UCIP as a Catholic association.^[49][50] Following a formal statement made by the Vatican – “resulting from the serious management crisis the organisation has been experiencing for years” – UCIP (International Catholic Press Union) was no longer able to use the adjective “Catholic”^[51].

Catholics in Radio, Television, Cinema and Press working together

From the 1960s, Unda and OCIC began to hold joint meetings and assemblies and incorporated work on the small and grassroots media that were then being developed.^[52] After the Unda-OCIC congress in Manila in 1980, the first joint meeting of the boards of Unda and OCIC was held in Washington in 1982 to study mutual relations. A commission, led by the American Fr. John Geaney, CSP, suggested that the two organizations should merge. But at the World Congress in Quito of 1987 the proposal was not accepted: intense collaboration yes, but no merger. This decision was a paradox, because a few days earlier the Latin American branches of the three Catholic organizations for the press, cinema and radio and TV (UCLAP, OCIC-AL, Unda-AL) had created a joint secretariat to cover all the media, but the rest of the world did not follow them. The 1980s saw the proliferation of video use, soon followed by rapid developments in information technology and the growth of digital media and the internet.^[53]

Between UCIP, Unda and OCIC there were always contacts. As the offices of OCIC and, since the 1970s, for Unda were also in Belgium these contacts were easy and friendly. All three organizations were represented on the board of the Catholic Media Council in Aachen (Germany) from 1977 to 1991^[54]. Later the bonds became closer. In the 1980s and 1990 UCIP's president was the Belgian, Louis Meerts (1937–2007). At the UCIP World congress in Pattaya, Thailand, in 1996 Mees appealed for closer ties with OCIC and Unda. He said UCIP, OCIC and Unda members could train Catholic journalists and work together in a way that reflected sincere faith and make "Catholic" mean "quality". Since many members of Unda and OCIC worked in several media, and since media ministry was cross-media, the impetus for a combined Catholic Association for audio-visual media grew ever stronger, eventually leading to the merger of Unda and OCIC as SIGNIS on 21 November 2001 in Rome. Following the demise of UCIP in 2011 SIGNIS opened up membership to Catholic journalists and at the SIGNIS world Congress of 2017 in Québec several Catholic press associations, former members of UCIP, were welcomed into SIGNIS, among them the CPA (Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada^[55].

Catholics and Media Education

SIGNIS recognizes the power of the media and their influence in all aspects of individual, community and social life^[56]. Media education is seen as a movement from a critical awareness of the languages and techniques of the media, through analysis of the values they project and their influence on our lives, towards a responsible participation in the use of media for the betterment of the person and society. It is a way to enable the citizen to examine the process of media production, media strategies, media ownership, the ways knowledge and meaning are made, as well as media's immense power for empowerment^[57].The areas covered by SIGNIS in this perspective are very diverse: advertising, radio, popular music, film, television, video and Internet. A media educated person is able to create his or her own media statements, to engage confidently with media producers and to exercise actively his or her rights as a democratic citizen. So, it is understandable that this work is one of the most important fields of action of SIGNIS.The SIGNIS Media Education Project aims to bring together worldwide experiences and achievements in this field. SIGNIS members want to come together to use financial, material and human resources more effectively so that they can give a coherent response to the "onslaught of national and global media" on people and cultures across the world. SIGNIS wants to build a world network of media educators and/or media education organizations – something which doesn’t yet exist. The predecessors of SIGNIS, Unda and OCIC, had a very long tradition in this field. In the 1950s, for example, in 1954 the president of OCIC, Mons. Jean Bernard from Luxembourg was one of those who with UNESCO gave a decisive push which led to the foundation of the International Center for Films for Children and Young People, CIFEJ, and a year later the Belgian Fr Léo Lunders o.p. of OCIC became a founder of CIFEJ^[58]; in the 1960s and 1970s the organizations supported the Plan DENI in Latin America and from 1987 to 2001 Unda with OCIC produced its Educommunication Magazine or in French Educommunication Nouvelles.

Catholics and the Digital World

From the 1970s on, the digital world did start expanding worldwide also in the Catholic world. The home computer meant that the digital world was entering fast into mass culture. It was as if it absorbed the bits and digits of mass culture like a lightning fire. The arrival of the first real digital camera in 1988 changed a lot – even more when photoshop shortly after came into being. A year later the World Wide Web was invented and soon became accessible for the general public. Around 1995, internet and the digital sound and images in all media and communications were introduced. Quickly mass culture became digital. In 1997 the first social networking website SixDegrees.com was launched. Nine years later Facebook entered the world. Social media became definitely part of the digital world and often attracts all the attention of the user day and night. The digital evolution has entered into virtually every part of life and society, from young children to adults and the elderly. Catholic communicators were attentive to this evolution. All this shapes a greater part of the world view and view of life of ever more people, which implies ethical aspects. The Vatican was also alert to this evolution. The Pontifical Council for Social Communications (PCSS) published a series of documents on this topic such as Ethics in Advertising (1997), Ethics in Communications (2000), and Ethics in Internet (2001). During the discussion which led to this document on ethics in Internet, Pope John Paul II supported the reflection of the PCSS. He felt the urgency to have a kind of guidance in this field. In "Ethics in Internet", he considered the digital as a great help to the Church’s pastors and faithful in facing the many challenges of the emerging media culture. He wrote:

Opportunities created by new technology, by the process of globalization, by deregulation and privatization of the media present new ethical and indeed spiritual challenges to those who work in social communications. These challenges will be met effectively by those who accept that serving the human person, building up a community grounded in solidarity, justice and love, and speaking the truth about human life and its final fulfillment in God were, are, and will remain at the heart of ethics in the media.

In Ethics in Internet , the ethical questions asked were multiple: will it contribute to authentic human development and community building? Will the digital divide favor social and economic justice? Will it not be dominated by one commercial secular culture? Will it guarantee the freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas? Will it serve serious journalism? Pope Francis in his message for the 48th World Communications Day (2014) calls the faithful to become “boldly citizens of the digital world” which can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people. “Personal engagement is the basis of the trustworthiness of a communicator. Christian witness, thanks to the Internet, can thereby reach the peripheries of human existence.”

From 1980 on, this was a reinforced tendency for OCIC and Unda. Br. Ferdinand Poswick,^[59] linked with OCIC, launched in 1981 his project to digitalize the Bible and to bring it in the digital new world for research.^[60] The digital evolution, or revolution, had an indirect influence on the birth of SIGNIS. In 1993 the general secretariat of OCIC with its secretary general Robert Molhant introduced the e-mail, first with the Missionary Service of OCIC in Rome and then with the members worldwide. The organisation entered a new era of communication. In the 1990s, it was clear for Unda, OCIC and even UCIP that in the digital world the images and sounds (television, film, music, radio and journalism) were dissolving the boundaries between the traditional media. In 1996 OCIC organised at its 4th World Video and Multimedia Forum in Cologne (Germany) a symposium on the Computer and its global Empire. The keynote was given by Derrick de Kerckhove. His words on September 28, 1996 in Cologne that the user of the internet provides the content were prophetic. Catholic communicators then asked him the question How will the technology use us? At that time he couldn't give a clear answer, but he drew attention to the possible ethical effects on the digital new world.^[61] At the OCIC/Unda World Congress in Rome in 2001, at the birth of SIGNIS, a symposium/seminar was given by webmasters. In 2006 SIGNIS staff member Jim McDonnell presented a paper to the ECIC in London,^[62] linking media literacy and advocacy issues.^[63] In 2008 a coverstory on the changing media landscape which is the establishing of the digital world is published in SIGNIS Media. For SIGNIS there is also the dimension of how the values of the gospel can be present and enhance the digital age at the service for a better world for humankind. At the SIGNIS Quebec World Congress in June 2017, the Board established a digital desk alongside the other desks (cinema, television, radio, media education, journalism).^[64]

UCIP secretary-generals and presidents 1927-2011

UCIP secretary-generals for the period 1927–2011: Joseph Ageorges (France, 1927-1940); Hein Houben (The Netherlands; 1935-1940), Jean‐Pierre Dubois‐Dumée (France, 1950-1955), le Père Emile Gabel (France, 1955 – 1968), le Père Pierre Chevalier (France, 1974-1980),le Père Bruno Holtz (Switzerland, 1984-1993), Joseph Chittilappilly (India, 1993-2011)

UCIP presidents for the period 1927–2011: René Delforge (Belgium, 1927-1934), le comte Giuseppe Dalla Torre (Italy, 1936-1960), Raimondo Manzini (Italy, 1960-1972),Louis Meerts (Belgium, 1972-1980), Hanns Sassman (Austria, 1980-1986), Günther Mees (Germany, 1992-1998), Theresa Ee Chooi (Malaysia, 1998-2011)

Unda secretary-generals and presidents 1928-2001

Unda secretary-generals for the period 1928–2001: Mgr Bernhard Marschall (Germany, 1928–1935); P.John Dito (OP, the Netherlands, 1935–1938); M. Paul Andrien Speet (The Netherlands, 1938–1942); M. Joseph Diening (The Netherlands, 1942–1950); M. François Van Hoek (Switzerland, 1950–1952); P. John Dito (OP, The Netherlands, 1952–1953); P. Bonaventura Jansen (OP, The Netherlands, 1953–1954); Fr. Joseph Schneuwly (Switzerland, 1954–1971); Fr John Stapleton (UK, 1971–1974); Fr. Jean Desautels (SJ, Canada, 1974–1981); Fr. Colm Murphy (Ireland, 1981–1994); Fr. Victor Sunderaj (India, 1994–1998); Fr. Pierre Bélanger (SJ, Canada, 1998–2001);

Unda presidents for the period 1928–2001: P. Lambert Henricus Perquin (OP, The Netherlands, 1928–1935); Mgr Bernhard Marschall (Germany, 1935–1938); Fr John Dito (OP, The Netherlands, 1938–1946); Mgr F. Prosperini (Italy, 1946–1948); P. Johannes Benedict Kors (OP, The Netherlands, 1950–1962); Mgr. Jacques Haas (Switzerland, 1962–1968); Fr. Agnellus Andrew (OFM, Scotland, 1968–1980); P. Anthony Scannell (OFM Cap. USA, 1980–1987); Mr. Chainarong Monthienvichienchai (Thailand, 1987–1994); Sr. Angela Ann Zukowski (MHSH, USA, 1994–2001).

OCIC secretary-generals and presidents 1928-2001

OCIC secretary-generals for the period 1928–2001: Rev. Joseph Reymond (France, 1928–1933); Fr. Jean Bernard (Luxemburg, 1935–1947); Fr. Felix Morlion (Belgium, 1944-1945 - provisory secretary-general); Mrs Yvonne de Hemptinne (Belgium, 1947–1978); M. Robert Molhant (Belgium, 1979–2002).

OCIC presidents for the period 1928–2001: Dr. George Ernst (Germany, 1928–1933); Canon Abel Brohée (Belgium, 1933–1947); Rev. Jean Bernard (Switzerland, 1947–1972); Rev. Lucien Labelle (Canada, 1972–1980); Fr. Ambros Eichenberger (o.p., Switzerland, 1980–1990); Fr. Henk Hoekstra (O. Carm. The Netherlands, 1990–1998); Fr. Peter Malone (MSC, Australia, 1998–2002).

SIGNIS secretary-generals and presidents 2001-

SIGNIS presidents for the period 2001–: Fr. Peter Malone (MSC, Australia, 2001–2005); M. Augie Loorthusamy (Malaysia, 2005–2014). M.Gustavo Andujar (Cuba, 2014–2017), Mss Helen Osman (USA, 2017–

SIGNIS Secretary-generals for the period 2001–: M. Robert Molhant (Belgium, 2001–2005); M. Marc Aellen (Switzerland, 2006–2007); Fr. Bernardo Suate (Mozambique, 2007–2008); M. Alvito de Souza (Kenya, 2008–2015).^[65] M.Ricardo Yañez (USA/Argentina, 2015–)

The Cinema desk

With the merger of OCIC with Unda into SIGNIS, the presence in festivals of Catholic members of the organisation not only continued but developed considerably.^[68] It is one way of having contact with the professional world and also a way of bringing together in a jury, professionals who are active in TV, media education, radio, and film criticism^[69]. OCIC gave its very first prize to the Italian film Vivere in Pace, by Luigi Zampa, at the Brussels World Film festival in 1947. The first award of SIGNIS went in 2002 to the Egyptian film by Magdi Ahmed Ali Asrar al Bana, (The secret of the young girl) at the Milan African film festival. In 2017 SIGNIS juries (representing the national and international members of SIGNIS) were in Venice, San Sebastian, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Havana, Montevideo, Milan, Toulouse, Washington, Tehran, Santo Domingo, Zanzibar, Ouagadougou, Religion Today, Besançon and Hong Kong. SIGNIS has continued the ecumenical dialogue in cinema, which started in 1974 at the Locarno film festival. In 2017 SIGNIS representatives collaborated with members of the international inter-Church organisation for film. SIGNIS continued also the ecumenical dialogue in cinema, which started in 1974 at the Locarno film festival. In 2017 SIGNIS representatives collaborate with members of the International Protestant organisation for film (INTERFILM) in 17 international film festivals to award an ecumenical prize (Cannes, Berlin, Fribourg, Oberhausen, Locarno, Kiev, Cottbus, Leipzig, Mannheim-Heidelberg, Montréal, Yerevan, Karlovy Vary, Zlin, Schlingel, Saarbrücken and Warsaw). This policy of dialogue with other Christian churches was extended in 2002 to other religions in interreligious juries. The first interfaith jury was organized in Tehran in 2003 at the Fajr film festival. This jury comprises two jury members selected by SIGNIS and one or two Muslim jury members selected by the festival. The jury has to consider for its award a new Iranian feature film. The idea of jury representatives from different faiths was followed by the Brisbane film festival (2003–2009), Nyon (2005–), Dhaka, Bangladesh (2006–) and Leipzig since 2016.^[70] SIGNIS develops this dialogue according to the criteria of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications published in 1989 in which "Manipulation or base proselytism, at times practiced in the media, is incompatible with the ecumenical task and with the spirit of inter-religious cooperation, (...) and as the decisions of ecclesiastical authorities affirm."^[71]

The TV desk

SIGNIS supports the production and distribution of quality TV programmes throughout the world, in organizing seminars that bring together TV producers, programmers and channels searching for opportunities for co-production or collaboration. SIGNIS also collaborates with the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN). It continues and develops the work of Unda in the different TV festivals, which started in the late 1950s in Monte Carlo. In the following years Unda had juries at other international TV festivals like at Prix Italia and at the Golden Rose, in Montreux^[72] In 2017, it gave prizes for the best of television in festivals: at the international television festival of Monte Carlo, at the Prix Italia and at the Plural + Festival.^[73] Every three years the SIGNIS European region co-organizes with the WACC Europe a European Television Festival of Religious Programmes, hosted by different national public broadcasters. The 2017 edition took place in Paris in June.^[74]

In November 2003 SIGNIS held its first workshop for Catholic radio stations in Eastern and Southern Africa in Cape Town, South Africa. Its aim was to encourage networking and collective stratgic planning to enable Catholic radio stations on the continent to better face the challenges and opportunities arising in their regions. SIGNIS was asked by these radios to concentrate its efforts within the existing ecclesiastical regional structures in Africa. Efforts were to be directed at strengthening local capacities within these existing structures rather than creating separate structures for networking radios in Africa to avoid dupliation and unnecessary competition with existing Church structures. At the 2005 SIGNIS world Congress in Lyon for the first time a selected international panel of national and international catholic radio networks as well as some major international Catholic radio stations from all around the world were brought together in a Consultative Seminar for Catholic radio networks.

The Radio desk

SIGNIS supports the development of community radio and Catholic radio stations, and promotes existing radio networks and associations. Radio is still an important medium. SIGNIS is involved in Catholic and community radios all over the world and especially in Africa. SIGNIS does not intend to establish its own Catholic radio networks. Rather, SIGNIS seeks to reinforce existing networks and encourage interaction between networks to enhance the shared learning experience. SIGNIS policy is one of subsidiarity and promoting professional collaboration. SIGNIS Services Rome provides technical consultation and equipment to radio stations, especially in Africa. It helps with training, logistics and building networks for its members.^[75]

The Journalist desk

Since 2014 SIGNIS has been actively working to offer a space for former members of UCIP and other Catholic journalist organizations in SIGNIS. In some cases, Catholic journalists are fully integrated into existing SIGNIS national structures (as, for example in Brazil or Hungary) but the situation varies widely from country to country.^[76] Since 2014, SIGNIS has aimed to offer a place of exchange and solidarity for those Catholics working in all forms of journalism and publishing. It aims to promote ethical professional journalism in the new multimedia era; to build a global network for Catholic journalists working across different media in different regions; to strengthen solidarity and personal ties among Catholic journalists through regular sharing of stories and information and to support freedom of expression and the rights of journalists. The first international seminar for Catholic journalists and writers was organized by SIGNIS in Kuala Lumpur. Some twenty Catholic journalists came from Pakistan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Singapore.^[77]

The Media Education desk

In 2007, SIGNIS representatives from Asia, Africa, the Pacific, Latin America, North America and Europe initiated the SIGNIS Media Education Project (SiGMEP) aimed at setting up a Global Media Education Network and set out a SIGNIS Charter on Media Education^[78]. In 2008 regional meetings were held in Asia and Europe to ratify this charter and elaborate regional media education plans. Since 2014, the newly formed “Media Education Desk” refocused its attention to develop and empower young communicators around the world. In order to concretely reach its goal, SIGNIS developed an intensive emersion & exposure communication program for young communicators: the COMMLAB (Communication Laboratory). Since then, participants from Asia, Africa and North America have graduated from COMMLAB.

The Digital desk

The SIGNIS Desk is founded at the SIGNIS Quebec World Congress in June 2017. SIGNIS explores how best this new technology can be harnessed to serve the common good and enhance the quality of communication for the majority of people. One of SIGNIS' main objectives is to help reduce the digital divide between those countries closely "connected" to the global digital highways and those in the poorer regions of the world which are still struggling to "connect" to their own towns and villages.^[62] For this SIGNIS Services Rome provides an Internet service via satellite that covers all of Africa: the VSAT system.^[79]

SIGNIS in Africa and in the Indian Ocean Islands

The members in Africa and in the Indian Ocean Islands are:^[80]

SIGNIS in Asia

The members of SIGNIS in Asia are:^[81]

SIGNIS in Europe and the Middle East

The members of SIGNIS in Europe and the Middle East are:^[82]

SIGNIS in Latin America and the Caribbean

The members in Latin America and the Caribbean are:^[83]

SIGNIS Caribbean is an Association of Caribbean Catholic media practitioners and professionals. It is an affiliate of SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communication) and a sub-region of SIGNIS ALC (Asociación Católica Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Comunicación). It was launched on August 21st 2007.

SIGNIS in North America

The members in North America are:^[84]

SIGNIS in the Pacific

The members of the Pacific are:^[85]

SIGNIS International Members

The group of International Members are:^[86]

SIGNIS Associates

The members "Associates" are:^[87]