WORLD FAMILY OF RADIO MARIA
What is Radio Maria?
The new challenges of the “Radio Maria Project” Not only balance sheets in our three decades of history, but a stimulus to continue upon the path that has been taken so far.
Vittorio Viccardi WFRM President
A
fter more than thirty years of operations, we are able to offer a brief assessment of Radio Maria’s mission in the world.
cording to steadfastly efficient criteria, at the service of our listeners. With this determination, the simple medium of radio has proven effective throughout the world, especially in countries where freedom of thought and the media seemed not to offer any possibilities.
The first phase, from the end of the 1980’s to the beginning of the 1990’s, saw Radio Maria develop in Italy, thanks also to the profound spiritual involvement of millions of Italian listeners. They are the ones who have supported the Radio’s growth, making it a wonderful national reality and then, little by little, an international one. Requests from Christians in Latin America and Europe followed, to which were added important appeals from African bishops.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall then, the transition to a market economy took place, gradually preparing the way for private television and radio channels, especially in Eastern Europe. Between the end of the 90’s and the first years of the third millennium, Radio Maria thus became a precious reality for the Catholic Church’s pastoral care in the countries of the former communist bloc. Each broadcasting station has managed to integrate its programs into the great diversity of the Eastern Catholic Churches and has had constructive dialogue with the Orthodox Church.
The next phase was an obligatory step: establishing an international association that would gather together this spontaneous universal call of the Church in the world and organize it ac-
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