“I have the highest honor of announcing that in only a matter of seconds the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XI, will inaugurate the Radio Station of the Vatican City State. The electric radio waves will transport to all the world his words of peace and blessing.
With the help of Almighty God, who allows the many mysterious forces of nature to be used by man, I have been able to prepare this instrument which will accord to the Faithful of all the world the consolation of hearing the voice of the Holy Father. Most Holy Father, the work that Your Holiness has deigned to entrust to me, I, today return to you… may you deign, Holy Father, to allow the entire world to hear your august words.” Guglielmo Marconi
National Catholic Register, Kathy Schiffer: With this message, Italian inventor and electrical engineer Guglielmo Marconi personally introduced the first radio broadcast of a pope at 4:49 p.m. on February 13, 1931.
Guglielmo Marconi is considered to be the inventor of radio, and in 1909 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun “in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy.” A Catholic, Marconi agreed to erect the first radio tower inside the walls of Vatican Gardens at no charge. He founded Vatican Radio, which broadcasts Catholic programming in 47 languages from a radio tower outside Rome. More here.
