Vatican Radio (Italian: Radio Vaticana; Latin: Statio Radiophonica Vaticana) is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City.
Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave, DRM, medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. Since its inception, Vatican Radio has been maintained by the Jesuit Order. Vatican Radio preserved its independence during the rise of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess (/mɑːrˈkoʊni/ mar-KOH-nee; Italian: [ɡuʎˈʎɛlmo marˈkoːni]; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937), was an Italian radio-frequency engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system. This led to him being largely credited as the inventor of radio and sharing the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy."His work laid the foundation for the development of radio, television, and all modern wireless communication systems.
As an entrepreneur and a businessman, Marconi founded the Marconi Company in the United Kingdom in 1897. In 1929, he was ennobled as a marquess (Italian: marchese) by Victor Emmanuel III. In 1931, he set up Vatican Radio for Pope Pius XI.
The Dicastery for Communication (Latin: Dicasterium pro Communicatione, Italian: Dicastero per la Comunicazione) is a department (dicastery) of the Roman Curia with authority over all communication offices of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Its various offices can be accessed through its website. These are the Pope's website and other offices such as Vatican News on the internet (including the former Vatican Media Center that distributes segments for television), the Holy See Press Office, L'Osservatore Romano newspaper, the Photograph Service, Vatican Radio, Vatican Press, and the Vatican Publishing House. The Pontifical Council for Social Communications has been subsumed into this new dicastery.