The Vatican: An Unpublished documentary on Vatican II
A 12-hour documentary on the Second Vatican Council was released on September 16, 2012 by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications. This film—containing numerous unpublished documents—was produced in the framework of the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Council, on October 11, 2012, and its purpose is “to make known the treasures of Vatican II to those who were not present or who know too little about it”, according to Bishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, quoted by Radio Vatican.
These 12 hours were selected from among 200 hours of original recordings, archived in the Vatican’s film library. On October 11, 2012, the Italian public television network RAI will broadcast the first half of a summary that runs 1 hour and 50 minutes.
The film also draws on material from the Vatican’s secret archives. Monsignor Celli adds, “The temptation might have been to make a film that was purely hagiographical. However, we wanted to enrich the film with 14 interviews with cardinals, patriarchs, and archbishops from different parts of the world, with the intention of seeing how the Second Vatican Council was received (…), offering a very rich ecclesiastical and cultural insight.”
Besides the version prepared for RAI, the documentary will be produced according to the requests of the Bishops' Conferences and of the local Churches, in versions of varying length, depending on the needs. (Sources: apic/DICI #261 dated 09/28/12)
