TMCnet News
Holy See Rejects New UCIPVatican City, Jul 21, 2011 (Catholic Information Service for Africa/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- Having withdrawn support from the international catholic journalists body, Union Catholic International de la Presse (UCIP), the Vatican has issued a statement decrying the group's move to reconstitute itself as the International Catholics Organization of the Media (ICOM). In April, the Pontifical Council for the Laity said that UCIP should remove the word "Catholic" from its title, CWN reports. The Vatican explained that the move was prompted by concerns about finances and management of the group, and lack of accountability in its leadership. At the time, UCIP leaders said that they would respond to the Vatican's concerns. The Pontifical Council for the Laity has followed up by saying that the new group, ICOM, should remove the word "Catholic" from its title for the same reasons. The Vatican complained that UCIP officials had never responded to their concerns and that ICOM, if it was a new organization, had improperly claimed the intellectual products of UCIP. UCIP was founded in December 15, 1890. It brings together professional journalists, publishers and professors of journalism and communication in the secular and religious journalism from all over the world. |