Some notes about Vatican Radio

I have been surfing around on the site of Radio Vaticana… Vatican Radio.  There have been some attempts to integrate the CTV (Centro Televisivo Vaticano … Vatican TV) together with the Radio, through a good and useful pop-up player, but the Vatican Radio site remains one of the most confusing and poorly designed Catholics sites out there, alas.

I was first trying to discover if there is an app for Vatican Radio so that I could listen on my iPhone/iPad.  No dice.  I found one in the iTunes store, but pretty much every says it won’t connect.  Useless.  And you pay for it.  I don’t mind paying for apps that work.

Then I was looking around for their broadcasts of Liturgy of the Hours in Latin.   Can’t find them anymore.  Nice.  For vespers on the live stream for Christ the King we got some obviously Spanish speaking nuns singing Italian slop with a mixed choir.

On the live stream schedule for 105FM they are still broadcasting Lauds in Latin at 0530 GMT.  There were once links for liturgical broadcasts and for Latin among the various languages.  You have to be nearly psychic to find them now.  Here is a useful link for the Latin broadcasts of the office.

You can bring up their on demand “podcasts” of archived shows on your iPhone using their mp3 links.  The other links are useless and could even freeze up your phone… as they did to me.

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I did manage to get the “player” to show me the live CTV stream on my iPhone.

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In any event, the stream was good and clear.

Vatican Radio needs work.  First things first, they need professional help to redesign the site.  It reminds me of a Roman basilica, with various parts tacked on in different eras of its development.  That’s great for a basilica.  Not so great for Vatican Radio, I’m afraid.

And if you want to listen to the office come si deve, you can always seek out the Benedictine Monks in Norcia.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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10 Comments

  1. Father Z,

    I too had some trouble in the past finding the Divine Office podcasts. But I found them again a while back. I hope this link helps you : http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/on_demand.asp?gr=ltg

    Have a blessed Solemnity of Christ the King!

    [Thanks and well done!]

    Fr. Z's Gold Star Award

  2. Phil_NL says:

    Ah well, on the bright side: Radio Vaticano does something good sometime…. Their choice for an interval signal is most appropriate, and today is an appropriate day (NO calander) to remind this…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeR7YhuPWjY

  3. That gold star just made the gilding on my breviary a little bit more shiny. Thank you! I am glad I could be of assistance.

    And my name links to the wrong URL. I have to fix it. My webpage is: http://sisterallie35.wordpress.com

    Dio ti benedica e Maria ti protegge per sempre!

  4. acardnal says:

    For English speakers, one can find the Liturgy of the Hours at http://www.divineoffice.org.

  5. acardnal says:

    I also listen to Vatican Radio clips via this iTunes podcast link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/vatican-radio-clips-eng/id78693949

  6. I can listen to all the Vatican Radio stations without difficulty on my iPhone using the app WR Vatican Radio (you can do a search to get it). And it’s not expensive. 69p in the UK.

  7. RichardT says:

    It’s not just the Vatican Radio; the whole Vatican site is horribly difficult to use.

    The only major site I’ve found that’s worse is the UK Office for National Statistics, which is so bad it should win an award.

  8. chonak says:

    There are RSS feeds for Vatican Radio’s daily news and feature shows available through wrn.org, so devices that support the Google Listen app or other podcast players can download the programs:

    news:
    http://www.wrn.org/listeners/vatican-radio/podcast/17:15:00UTC/English/3330

    features:
    http://www.wrn.org/listeners/vatican-radio/podcast/20:50:00UTC/English/3330

  9. RichR says:

    I listen to the Vatican Radio mp3 of Compline in the background on my iPad while praying via iBreviary. The hymns don’t always line up, but everything else does. It’s a neat experience.

  10. Cavaliere says:

    No need to award me a gold star :) but I posted that same link to the On Demand Liturgy of the Hours from Vatican Radio last Wednesday in the post about Pope Bendict’s encouragement of everyone praying the Divine Office.

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