http://www.boston.com/dailynews/122/world/Vatican_Radio_agrees_to_move_a:.shtml

Vatican Radio agrees to move a short-wave antenna

By Associated Press, 5/2/2001 18:38

ROME (AP) Vatican Radio agreed Wednesday to reduce some short-wave transmissions to comply with tough Italian environmental regulations. Negotiations on medium-wave broadcasts are continuing.

The station is under pressure to reduce electromagnetic emissions because some people living near a radio transmission tower outside Rome fear they pose a health hazard.

The government has threatened to shut down Vatican Radio, which beams Pope John Paul II's words around the world in 40 languages, unless it meets Italy's emissions' standards. It is now negotiating new guidelines with the Vatican.

Vatican Radio director, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Wednesday the station would either move or stop using one of its 31 short-wave antennas, located near several homes in the town of Santa Maria di Galeria.

Vatican Radio has already sharply reduced its transmissions on medium wave in what officials called a ''goodwill gesture.''

Italy's environment minister Willer Bordon called the short-wave agreement ''absolutely unsatisfactory'' and urged the Italian prime minister to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance by the Vatican.

An Italian prosecutor has charged Lombardi and two other Vatican officials with damaging the environment. They are scheduled to go on trial in the fall.

Prosecutors say Vatican Radio violates the strict standards Italy adopted in 1998 on electromagnetic fields.

The Vatican says the transmissions are in line with less strict international standards and maintains its officials are shielded from prosecution under a 1929 pact that established Vatican City as an independent city-state.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001