The Catholic Church has a real “cultural need” to preserve its archives and audiovisual, documentary and other media assets, Pope Francis said in a written communication to the newly created Fondazione MAC – Memorie Audiovisive del Cattolicesimo (Foundation for Audiovisual Memories of Catholicism ) dated May 3.
Even newly created materials are “a fragile commodity that requires constant care,” the pontiff is certain. “The Catholic Church has unfortunately already lost much of the audiovisual documentation of its history from the 19th and 20th centuries due to neglect, lack of resources and skills”— complained the head of the Holy See.
On May 2, the members of the Foundation held their first plenary meeting at the Vatican Library.
Technologies used for the production of audiovisual materials, “it spread with great speed, creating a series of sounds and images that could not have been imagined a few years ago, documenting the history of the world and of the church”Francis said in a statement. “Therefore, today is also the time to stop to collect and protect this vast audiovisual heritage to undertake a new great process of construction of collective memory.”.
The MAC Foundation, formally established in March, was established to preserve and promote audiovisual and other media archives related to Catholicism, the foundation said in a May 2 press release.
The main tasks of the foundation include:
— conservation by promoting restoration projects such as digital restoration and digitization of archival materials;
– increase accessibility by creating a “common space” on the Internet for the exchange of digitized collections;
— creation of an “online environment” for cultural, academic and educational research projects;
— promotion of scientific cooperation;
— exchange of information, best practices and educational models.
Monsignor Dario Viganò, vice chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and president of the foundation, said the idea for such a foundation came from an interview he gave to Pope Francis about cinema in 2021. The pope, the monsignor said in a press release. of the foundation, pointed out how far behind the Catholic Church was when it comes to the protection of its audiovisual heritage.
In his message to the foundation, the Pope recalled this interview and how “I have insisted on the importance of a greater commitment on the part of the entire ecclesiastical community, and in particular of the Holy See, in the management of our ‘memory of images ‘ said the prelate.
The MAC Foundation collaborates with many renowned institutions such as the Vatican Library, Cinecittà and the Istituto Luce, Italy’s national film archive. Almost all members of its administrative and scientific committees are leading experts in the field of cinematography and archival preservation.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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