Why Kannada is added to Vatican news feed?

The Vatican, on Tuesday, announced that all the official news will be translated into Kannada, making it the 53rd language used by the country’s news outlets.

According to the Vatican News, the initiative was the product of a collaboration between the Dicastery for Communication and the Archdiocese of Bangalore, Karnataka.

“I am delighted with the launch of these pages in Kannada,” remarked the Archbishop of Bangalore, Peter Machado. While announcing the initiative, Machado also thanked the head of the Catholic church Pope Francis for “bringing the Church to the peripheries”.

“The faithful will surely benefit from reading these articles and, in a later phase when possible, also from their broadcast in audio/video. I am sure that our Communication Center of the Archdiocese of Bangalore will bring the universal Church closer to the people,” Machado furthered.

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Why Vatican choose Kanada for its news feed?

It is pertinent to note that, Kannada is spoken by an estimated 40 million people in and around the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Over two per cent of India’s 1.4 billion people are Christians and most of them are Catholics.

Within the state of Karnataka, around 1.9 per cent of its population are Christians, while 84.2% of the population follow Hinduism. The large concentration of Christians in Karnataka is found in seven districts, namely, Bangalore Urban, South Kanara, Udupi, North Kanara, Bidar, Mysore and Kolar.

An ancient language which is very much alive

Dr. Paolo Ruffini, the Prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication emphasised that while Kannada is an ancient language, it is “very much alive”.

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“It is alive just as is the Catholic community that helps us in this small but great enterprise: to speak the language of 35 million Indians," Ruffini explained.

“It is an act of homage to their culture, and a service to authentic communication, a way of walking together, one step after the other. It represents great effort, certainly. But as a Kannada proverb goes ಕೈ ಕೆಸರಾದರೆ ಬಾಯಿ ಮೊಸರು, ‘Effort always pays’.”

Meanwhile, Massimiliano Menichetti, Head of Vatican Radio – Vatican News highlighted that the inclusion of Kannada is another example of “vitality and fraternity”.

“Today, new technologies offer us many opportunities to bring the Good News to our wounded world. The Kannada language is another example of vitality and fraternity and our wish is to continue to weave these paths in responsibility and unity,” he added.

With inputs from agencies.