Platform changes

Lord Patten has handed his homework in to the Pope, and now we await fireworks. Can he reform the Vatican's sprawling media operations in a way he never quite bothered with at the BBC ? 

His eleven-strong commission, which started work last September, was asked to look at the way the Vatican's messages reach the faithful, with a view to improving effectiveness, not necessarily reducing costs.

The biggest single element in the armoury is Vatican Radio, in terms of employees, which broadcasts in 45 languages. There is also the  Pontifical Council for Social Communications; the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano; the Vatican television production studio, CTV; the Vatican Information Service; the Vatican press office; the Fides missionary news agency; the main Vatican website; the news.va news aggregator; the Vatican publishing house LEV; and the Vatican printing press.

Excitingly, the Pope has set up another commission, to review the findings of Lord Patten's report.