Ten lessons on the Song of Songs and nine episodes dedicated to the Our Father. These are two of the proposals of Tv 2000 in this month of October. The first (within the program Good weather hopefully) sees Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi in the role of “guide” through the words of Song in the bow of ten meetings (one per month). In the second (which will be presented to the press tomorrow in the presence of the Prefect of the Secretariat for Communication of the Holy See, Monsignor Dario Viganò, and the director of TV 2000 Paolo Ruffini) the chaplain of the Padua prison will meet (for nine Wednesdays in prime time, from 25 October) some personalities from the world of culture and entertainment (including Umberto Galimberti, Erri De Luca, Pif, Maria Grazia Cucinotta and Flavio Insinna) to talk with them about the meaning and meaning of the Our Father. The highlight of the program will be the dialogue between Don Marco Pozza and Pope Francis who, with him, spoke of the fatherhood of God in an encounter that became the heart of the book Our father, which will be published by Lev and Rizzoli and announced in these days at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The two new appointments on Tv 2000 counterbalance the (almost) total void of religious programs on the other networks. The offer continues to be decidedly limited even if, due to the involuntary accomplice of Pope Francis’ pontificate, at times small gaps open up, occupied however by events of great appeal. To check it, just scroll through the pages of any TV guide. Rai 1, which despite its ups and downs (at the moment the latter prevail), continues to remain the main generalist network of reference for Italians, has maintained its package of broadcasts dedicated to faith and spirituality unchanged over time: the Holy Mass and the Angelus from St. Peter’s Square on Sundays, preceded by the half hour of In His Image, born in 1997 and also broadcast on Saturday afternoon. To these three weekly appointments are added, as mentioned, the live broadcast of special events (for example, the visit of Pope Francis to FAO on the occasion of World Food Day) and celebrations such as those of Holy Week. To complete the religious offer of Rai are On the way to Damascus (Saturday morning on Rai 2), conducted by Monsignor Giovanni D’Ercole, Source of life (fortnightly column of Jewish life and culture) e Protestantism (by the Evangelical Churches), both broadcast on Rai 2 on Sunday night because the rules of pluralism rarely coincide with those of the Auditel. Finally, there is the Tg1 Dialogo column, broadcast on Saturday morning after 8 by Piero Damosso with the comment of Father Enzo Fortunato, director of the magazine San Francesco, and on Radio1 “In Viaggio con Francesco”, on Sunday at 10 am live from Assisi, a program created by Father Fortunato and Alessio Maria Antonielli (the podcast on www.sanfrancesco.org).
The situation does not improve on Mediaset networks where, after the cancellation of Frontiers of the Spirit from the program schedule of Canale 5, to hold high the banner of spirituality was the Holy Mass, on Sunday morning on Rete 4, preceded and followed by The journeys of the heart, program conducted by Don Davide Banzato. Finally, there is no trace of religious programs on La 7 which has also become one of the main references of the television audience for current affairs and information.
The case. Tv in spiritual crisis, few religious programs