Angelus and General Audiences in Sign Language on Vatican News

VATICAN NEWS

“I reiterate the need to make available suitable and accessible means for handing on the faith. I also hope that these can be made available to those who need them, cost-free to the extent possible, also through the new technologies that have proven so important for everyone in the midst of this pandemic.”

Responding to this appeal launched by Pope Francis in his Message for the 2020 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication is launching the Project “No one left out.”

It aims to offer people with communication challenges access to the General Audience and the Angelus/Regina Coeli catecheses.

The service will be free of charge and accessible through the Vatican News YouTube channel. In particular, a live channel for LIS (Italian Sign Language) translation will be available, in addition to a subtitling service https://e.va/lis as well as a previously recorded channel for ASL (American Sign Language) translation https://e.va/asl

The project, which will be launched with the Easter Urbi et Orbi Message on Sunday, 4 April, is experimental in nature and will last one year, in the hope that it will become a regular service and become available in other languages as well. Along with the YouTube channel dedicated to accessibility for people with communication challenges, an App will be made available in the next few months for people with sensory disabilities. Its objective will be to allow them to enjoy Vatican media contents in a more integral way, with special attention for the visually impaired, and for those with communication challenges. The sign language translation and the subtitles will be coordinated by Sister Veronica Donatello, in charge of the Italian Episcopal Conference’s National Service for the pastoral care of persons with disabilities.

The project was made possible thanks to the cooperation and economic support of the Pius Institute for the Deaf in Milan, CBM Italia (the Italian branch of CBM - Christian Blind Mission – that prevents and treats blindness in developing countries across the world), Freunde von Radio Vatikan (Friends of Vatican Radio) and the St Francis Borgia Deaf Center in Chicago.

As for Easter 2020, in collaboration with Tv2000, a Sign Language translation of the Easter Triduum celebrations will also be made available on the YouTube lis channel in Italian Sign Language.