One curious feature of the modern papacy is the informal, but very real, PR safety net which grows up almost spontaneously around every pontiff. It’s forged in part by the Vatican’s own official communications channels, but even more so by outside commentators and media platforms heavily invested in selling a given pope’s story to the Read more
Every day, massive floods of information flow around us, inviting us to choose which samples to consume. Those who publish this information claim to be telling us what is happening in the world, but in our wiser moments we remember to question whether they are offering us the truth. From experience, we know that the Read more
Stephen Colbert, one of the most famous Catholics in the entertainment business, is moving one step closer to Pope Francis. The Late Show host will narrate Pope Francis’ audiobook Life: My Story Through History. He will narrate the six-hour audiobook, which comes out on March 19 via HarperAudio, alongside Franciscan friar and priest John Quigley. Read more
When I was in Rome during the second week of the Synod on synodality, I had the opportunity to talk with some of the participants. Every single one of them offered encouraging words of hope. But if one wants to know what is happening at this synodal assembly, those words of hope are pretty much Read more
My first synod was in 1985, when Pope John Paul II called an extraordinary synod to reflect on the Second Vatican Council 20 years after it ended. I have covered almost every synod since. It has never been easy. Meetings of the synod are usually closed, and the information released to the press is carefully Read more
Vatican officials have clarified that media engagement during the Synod of Bishops is a personal decision, and those who choose to give interviews will face no punishment. The clarification followed a recent interview given by German Cardinal Gerhard Müller to EWTN, raising questions about Pope Francis’s call for a media ‘fast’. Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, Read more
It has been reported that the regulations concerning media access to the discussions at the upcoming Synod assembly in Rome – first of two sessions that will be held over the next twelve months – have not yet been approved. Journalists can only hope that the hypothesis of imposing the pontifical secret (the highest kind Read more
Our collective noses have been crinkling at the distinct whiff of something not quite right in the press for some time now, but recent days have been a particular corker for unveiling some fishy elements of the NZ media. RNZ has unwittingly acted as a Kiwi branch of the Russian propaganda machine, Stuff reporting has Read more
I wanted to start by acknowledging that what the Church calls Good News and what journalists call good news are entirely different things. The Christian Gospel, which is a word meaning, ‘good news’ – is that the Creator of all things, God, so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that all Read more
Disneyland in Paris and the US Super Bowl will soon be used by churches as venues for massive media outreaches A new 40-million euro Church complex near Paris Disney will include a new church that can hold up to 900 people and a private school that can accommodate more than 1,500 students. And in the Read more