Radio Veritas Asia was the non-commercial Catholic shortwave station broadcasting to Asia. It is based in

Quezon City, Philippines Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

, and is owned by the Philippine Radio Educational and Information Center, which previously owned the original Radio Veritas from 1969 to 1991. Its Urdu Service started its broadcast on August 14, 1987, in

Lahore, Pakistan Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. Its mission is to promote justice to the oppressed through programs with specific moral, religious and inspirational content, and to voice peace and harmony among the sects, races, and sexes through sociocultural programs and to promote dialogue among different religions.

History

In December 1958, the delegates of the Southeast Asian Bishops' Conference unanimously resolved to establish a radio station to serve the countries of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

. Eleven years after that, Radio Veritas was inaugurated, on April 11, 1969. The Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference (FABC) was entrusted with the operations of RVA from its beginning in 1970. This was confirmed by FABC's governing body, the General Assembly, in 1974. Since 1991 the annual magazine of the Radio Veritas Asia

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Joseph Arshad Joseph Arshad (born August 25, 1964) is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Biography Arshad was born on August 25, 1964, in Lahore. After completing school, he began his priestly education at St. Mary's Minor Semi ...

of Faisalabad and head of the Commission for Social Communications, addressed the conference invited the participants to build peace, tolerance and brotherhood in society via the radio.

Funding

The service is largely funded by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

donors Missio. In 2010 they announced a cut back of 10 percent of their annual funding. The center received until 2005 annual funding of 10,000 rupees from the

Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan The Pakistan Catholic Bishops' Conference (PCBC) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic bishops of Pakistan. Its objectives are to facilitate coordinated study and discussion of issues affecting the Church, and adoption of a common policy and e ...

for their Urdu service.

RVA programs

RVA programming evolves from its two-fold objectives.

Evangelization

It has a mix of moral, religious, evangelical and sociocultural, and entertainment programs on offer, as well as a few political, economic and informational programs. Programs include: *Gospel Reflection *Church News *Morals *Catholic Doctrines *

Catechesis Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

*Liturgy and Sacraments *Dialogue with Religions and Cultures *Role of the Church in the Modern World

Human development

In 2015, it offers two 27 minute programs, one in the morning and one at night, dealing with health, culture, values, famous places in the world, personalities, social issues, literature, inventions and world news. *People Empowerment *Community Building *Family *Women and Youth *Science and Technology *Environment *History and Culture *News and Information *Health

Through the years

RVA and the Pope

During the 25th anniversary celebration of RVA in 1995

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

said that RVA must be helped to fulfill its mission even though this will certainly involve even greater sacrifices and renewed commitment on the part of the local churches in Asia. Pope Francis sent a message to the station, which celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 11, 2019, calling for it to help build “a more just and united society".

The library

The broadcast tapes of the 1986

People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of c ...

are housed in the RVA archives.

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

has catalogued the audio files as part of the selected collection included in the ''Memory of the World Program and

Digital Preservation In library and archival science, digital preservation is a formal endeavor to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable. It involves planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods and ...

of Documentary Heritage''.

News

On 25 July 2020, the chair of the National Commission for Social Communications, Archbishop

Joseph Arshad Joseph Arshad (born August 25, 1964) is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Biography Arshad was born on August 25, 1964, in Lahore. After completing school, he began his priestly education at St. Mary's Minor Semi ...

of Islamabad-Rawalpindi launched the Radio Veritas Asia Urdu news service. This is the first Catholic news program of its kind in the country.Herald Malaysia August 1, 2020
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References

Website

Radio Veritas Asia's website
{{Authority control International broadcasters 1969 establishments in the Philippines Radio stations in the Philippines Mass media companies of the Philippines Philippine radio networks Catholic radio stations Companies based in Quezon City Catholic Church in Pakistan Mass media in Pakistan Urdu-language mass media Radio stations established in 1969 Mass media in Lahore Privately held companies