Vatican Radio's Hindi service completes 60 years

Vatican Radio's Hindi service completes 60 years

The Vatican Dicastery for Communications honored the Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam departments of Vatican Radio for 60 years of outstanding service at a Christmas gathering on Thursday. Vatican Radio is the Pope's radio station, whose mission is to spread the message of love, peace, justice, goodwill, and reconciliation to the world.

Vatican News

Vatican City, Thursday, December 18, 2025 (REI): A new chapter was added to the history of Vatican Radio in 1965, when Hindi broadcasts were launched for India and South East Asia.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI visited India for the World Eucharistic Conference. A few months after this important visit, in May 1965, Vatican Radio began broadcasting in Hindi to India and Southeast Asia. From 1965 to 1982, Hindi broadcasts were broadcast twice a week. From 1982 onwards, the ten-minute evening broadcast was extended to the next morning.

In 1986, when Pope John Paul II visited India, the need for daily broadcasts to India and Southeast Asia was realized. The hard work and dedication of Father Xavier Rajan S.J., then Director of the Indian Section of Vatican Radio, bore fruit, and additional time was allocated to Indian languages from January 31, 1986.

In 1990, in addition to the 15-minute morning broadcast in Hindi, a five-minute news bulletin was added to the evening broadcast. In 1993, our broadcasts began with a 14-minute commentary and six-minute news daily. A replay of the 20-minute evening broadcast can also be heard the following morning.

With the increase in broadcast time and frequency, Indian language channels opened their own offices for the convenience of listeners in India and Sri Lanka. Local offices forwarded listeners' letters to Rome, courtesy of the Pontifical Apostolic Nunciature in New Delhi. The printing and distribution of the radio's monthly magazines were also handled by local offices. The Chennai office was first opened in 1982, followed by Colombo and Kochi. In 1999, at the initiative of Father Cyprian S.J., the then Director of the Indian Department, a Hindi office was opened in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.

The Hindi service was further enriched by daily updates to the Vatican Radio website. In addition to updating the web page, news began to be broadcast through a news bulletin, initiated by Father Justin Tirkey SJ in 2009.

In the Hindi broadcast, you can receive the Pope's blessing by listening to his Angelus message on Mondays. Church documents are broadcast on Tuesdays and the Pope's message at the weekly General Audience on Wednesdays.

On Thursdays, you can enjoy an introduction to the Holy Scriptures (the Bible), on Fridays, a topical charitable discussion, on Saturdays, Sunday Scripture and liturgical reflections, and on Sundays, a Sunday program and a Hindi play on important social issues. We also broadcast special reports on the Pope's apostolic visits to various countries around the world.

The creators of Vatican Radio's Hindi service consider it an honor to broadcast the voice of Mother Church and her Supreme Head, the Pope, to the world's sixty million Hindi-speaking people. We pray to God that our efforts may contribute to the creation of a better world, enriched with human and Christian values.

Vatican Radio underwent a major transformation in 2017 when Vatican News became integrated with Vatican Radio. The new design of the Vatican News website has been designed to provide greater accessibility for readers and listeners. Currently, the Hindi Department is headed by Father Dilip Sanjay Ekka, a Jesu Sanghi, and is assisted by Sister Anugrah Minj, H.C., Sister Usha Manorama Tirkey, D.S.A., and Juliet Genevieve Christopher, who lead the work of the Vatican Radio Hindi Service.

In keeping with the changing times, Vatican Radio is now available digitally and is increasingly focusing on social media. Vatican Radio Hindi has also opened accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and WhatsApp, and these are regularly updated. Efforts are currently underway to refine the web radio as well.  

(Source : Vatican Radio)