Today we visited the Vatican to learn more about how their media operates. We visited the Vatican Secretariat for Communication, and listened to members of the Vatican media system talk about their experiences. The speakers largely focused on how they were adjusting to “new media” and how they had began to use social media to reach more people.
Vatican Radio began in 1931, and was one of the main ways that the Vatican used media to communicate with the rest of the world. The Vatican translates their broadcasts into 40 different languages, and has recently expanded their broadcasts to Africa.
The Vatican has also been using social media to reach a larger audience. The pope has an Instagram account, a Facebook account and a Twitter account that was started by Pope Benedict XVI. These accounts were somewhat controversial at first, and the Vatican’s media had a difficult time getting rid of hateful comments. It was also explained that although the posts are written in the first person, all posts are originally written by members of the Vatican communications system. Each post must be approved by the pope, however, and this can take some time to get approval. The Vatican’s communications are funded by the church, because it is a part of the Christian religion to spread the word to the rest of the world.
After, we went to lunch and I got gnocchis in a four cheese sauce. It was probably my favorite meal so far.
We then went through St. Peter’s Square to get to the Vatican museum. It had began to thunder. Our tour guide explained that if we were to appreciate every work of art in the museum, it would take us nine months.
Many paintings were optical illusions that looked like sculptures.
There was a hall of enormous religious tapestries.
We then went into the Sistine Chapel. The building itself was smaller than I expected, but the paintings were enormous. The only surface that was unpainted was the floor. Like the museum, it was incredibly crowded. But we got to see The Creation of Adam, and other paintings that depicted creation, and other major religious events. The walls were covered by ornate curtains, and it took me a while to realize that they were actually paintings. Afterwords, my neck hurt from looking up so much.
Then we went to St. Peter’s Basilica, which is one of the largest churches in the world. I was blown away by how ornate and extravagant it was. Every available surface was adorned, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much it must have cost. I felt like an ant. A large canopy was at the front of the church, and supposedly marks the place where St. Peter was buried.
These are actually mosaics, and they were all around the basilica.
We returned to the hotel after a long, crowded bus ride and got cheap pizza from a nearby shop and we drank a bottle of strawberry wine.