Dear SIGNIS members,
We are writing to inform you of a change in the use of the SIGNIS Project Application portal (signisprojectapplication.net).
Following a policy change at the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith (POPF), as conveyed to our Secretary General by the Secretary General of POPF on 28th September 2023, and confirmed on 13th October 2023, all applications for POPF funding for extraordinary subsidy of Church communication projects must now be sent through the local ordinary.
This will then be in line with the process already being used for ordinary subsidies, in that the local ordinary then submits the applications to the local apostolic nuncio.
Applications must be received by POPF from the nuncios by Dec. 15, 2023.
Consequently, the SIGNIS project application portal will now be closed and will no longer be accepting project applications for POPF funding.
Please note that the Secretary General of POPF would like to convey during this change that “POPF is very happy to consider these [communication] projects as they are valuable for evangelization”.
We will now focus our resources on developing the SIGNIS portal to directly serve our members, such as by providing a platform for collaboration, joint action plans, and joint applications for project funding.
SIGNIS officials are continuing in our efforts to fulfill the desire of the Council Fathers, especially as expressed specifically in Inter Mirifica (22) and Communio et Progressio (178-180).
As the Council Fathers wrote in Inter Mirifica: “Since the effectiveness of these media reaches beyond national boundaries and has an impact on individual members of the whole human family, national offices should co-operate among themselves on an international plane. The offices … should assiduously work together with their own international Catholic associations. These Catholic international associations are legitimately approved by the Holy See alone and depend on it.”
We are grateful for the support of the Holy See and remain steadfast in our work to support the Catholic Church in its essential communication work. We believe this is most critical at this particular moment in history, as the Catholic Church takes a major step forward in its renewal, and as such globally urgent matters such as climate change, war and increased migration affect humanity.
Thank you for your continued work in Catholic communications, especially those of you who sacrifice so much in your ministries and vocation. Our world board will be meeting in person in Bangkok in November, with the focus of the meeting on the future of SIGNIS.
Let us continue to pray for one another and for our shared work.
St. Oscar Romero, pray for us!
Helen Osman