Radio Maria was born in Italy in the early 1980s by Emanuele Ferrario, a faith-filled layman who launched the project. His basic intuition was to create a station that would proclaim the Gospel and call for conversion through explicitly religious programming, without interference in partisan political debates, managed by volunteers and without advertising. It is financed entirely by donations from listeners.
It now broadcasts in 74 countries around the world, and is independently managed in each country, but with a clear Catholic identity open to all ecclesial realities in communion with its hierarchy. Since 1998, the World Family of Radio MariaThe project is managed by an international association based in Rome, which brings together the various local associations and facilitates the missionary development of the project. In this way it responds to requests from all over the world, guarantees the authenticity of the brand, offers technical assistance and facilitates exchange and mutual assistance among the various national broadcasters. The World Family maintains regular information relations with the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See.
In 1998, the Radio Maria Spain AssociationÁngel Cordero as director, and had its first headquarters in the parish of Santa María de la Dehesa, in Cuatro Vientos (Madrid). It was there that the retransmissions began thanks to a small frequency provided by this parish. The programming of that first day consisted of the recitation of the Holy Rosary, the rebroadcasting of the Holy Mass, and the program "The Holy Rosary". Good morning, Maria. Gradually it spread throughout Madrid and other provinces, until today it is among the most listened radio stations in Spain. It is directed by Father Luis Fernando de Prada.
The campaign Return home
During the summer of 2017, the first stage was carried out: Return to. Teams of volunteers traveled the Spanish geography to present the campaign by means of scenarios in the street, and to seek out those who were furthest away from the faith. A total of 32 events were held, some 9,000 people were contacted and more than 15,000 bookmarks with testimonies of conversions were distributed. Some of these stories can be found on their website www.vuelveacasa.es.
The following year, the prayer life was deepened with the campaign Ask forThousands of petitions were collected through small mailboxes and sent to various convents, which pledged to pray for them. This network of petitions is still alive on the website, which also offers resources to facilitate personal prayer. And this year, from March to December, we are carrying out the following campaign CelebrateThe aim is to show the joy of faith and the joy of returning to the Church. On this occasion, Radio Maria will once again tour 40 Spanish cities with another traveling exhibition, preferably in Catholic places of worship (cathedrals, cloisters or parishes), entitled A radio that changes lives. In addition to the history of the station and its inspiring principles, 16 panels show the different thematic blocks of the radio programming and testimonies of listeners who have changed their lives by listening to the station.
The style and results of this campaign are reminiscent of the audiovisual initiative that was born in the United States in preparation for the Jubilee of the year 2000. At that time, the NGO Catholics Come Homepromoted by Tom Peterson, an American businessman in the world of communications, which still today collects moving testimonies of conversions and helps many people to find their faith or recover it if they had abandoned it. Also in the case of Radio Maria, the campaign has a strong testimonial component, and is presented through its website in an agile and very visual format. But it also seeks to involve as many people as possible through the traveling exhibitions, the comments posted on its website, and the celebration of various festive events such as the meeting held in Madrid on April 27 and 28, which ended with the consecration of Radio Maria at Cerro de los Angeles, as part of the centenary of the consecration of Spain to the Heart of Jesus. In addition, in recent years, National Meetings of Volunteers have been held in which experiences have been exchanged and the evangelizing commitment has been strengthened through common prayer.
A living and growing charisma
The work of Radio Maria has been expressly supported and blessed by the Popes since its inception. Both St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI encouraged the people who make it possible to spread the message of Christ through this radio medium. For his part, Pope Francis received in audience a representation of the World Family of Radio Maria in October 2015, and highlighted the help it gives to the Church in the work of evangelization through its particular charisma, which he defined as "the closeness to the concerns and dramas of the people, with words of comfort and hope, the fruit of faith and commitment to solidarity"..
This closeness has been enriched by the emergence of social networks, in which Radio Maria Spain has also been present since 2010. The opportunities for communication have multiplied, and the participation of listeners makes this medium a living channel of expression and consultation that facilitates the dissemination of the programs. The account of Facebook has close to 2 million followers, the profile of Twitter is followed by 60,000 people, and there is a channel of Youtube with more than 7,000 subscribers. Since July 2018, it has also been present in Instagramthe most popular platform among young people, where he has about 2,000 followers.
It is not surprising that the slogan of this campaign is A radio that changes livesespecially after hearing the testimonies of the listeners. Purificacion is a 50-year-old woman whose life, as she tells it, was full of dissatisfaction, unhappiness, anger and sadness. Until a voice broke through the silence of her car. It was a Radio Maria program talking about angels and their mission to praise and give glory to God. At that moment "a flash of lightning illuminated the gloom of my soul [...]. What I was hearing connected with something inside me that I had been searching for all my life.". Luis had the same impression when one day he happened to tune in to Radio Maria in his car: "It filled me with peace and serenity: all those voices, stories, testimonies and prayers made me feel good. I sensed that God was with me, that he never abandons us, that he guides us and continually orients us in our lives.".
Alongside these stories of conversions, there are listeners who find in Radio Maria a help to strengthen their faith or receive the comfort of prayer, such as Lucia, an 83-year-old Alzheimer's patient who has forgotten many things, but who never forgets to listen to the 7 o'clock rosary. "it comforts me, enlightens me and guides me on the path of Christian life.". Or like Francisco, a prisoner who in his captivity has discovered "a maternal presence that escapes reason".and that when the time comes for the Angelus "wherever in the prison I am caught, I stop with the earphone to my ear, I try to isolate myself from my surroundings and spend those moments in prayer with Mary, and in communion with the thousands of people who pray with me"..
Truly, as Pope Francis said to them in that audience, Radio Maria "it becomes a means of the first order to convey hope, that true hope which derives from the salvation brought by Christ the Lord, and to offer good company to many people who are in need of it.". n
