What we have here, at the Vatican, is a failure to communicate

From noted Vatican reporter Sandro Magister:

This Is the Vatican. Communications Have Been Interrupted

Benedict XVI speaks to the world. But his words reach the general public with great difficulty – and sometimes not at all. Here’s what isn’t working in the communication system that should assist the pope

[a quotation from the article:]

"Pope Joseph Ratzinger doesn't use a computer – he writes in his miniscule handwriting the addresses and homilies most important to him, or dictates them, or improvises without providing anything written ahead of time. To transcribe, translate, and bring his words to an audience as vast as the world is not easy, but it is what Benedict XVI expects from the Vatican communication apparatus. It is an essential objective for a pope who is a “doctor of the Church."

...

Not even the basic work of translation is functioning, even in a state as multilingual as the Vatican is.

For example, the French and Portuguese translations of the papal lecture in Regensburg on September 12 (4) – the most famous and extensively discussed document of this pontificate – appeared on the Vatican’s website 35 days later. The Spanish translation came after 43 days. The Arabic version, prepared by the secretariat of state in mid-September and immediately distributed in the chancelleries of Muslim countries, is still not available to the general public. There are still a few steps left before it can be brought to the online desk.

Another interesting point made in the article is the huge operating deficits of L'Osservatore Romano and Vatican Radio. The former at 4.6 million euros in 2005, the latter at 23.5 million euros.