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How the Vatican presents itself and how its news is covered by observers and correspondents. Facts, analyses and insider observations on a profession that is unique in the world
by Sandro Magister
ROME, June 7, 2005 – The following presentation was first given on May 26 in France, at the Jean Moulin University in Lyon, on the invitation of the Club Media France and the local Institute of Italian Culture. It is divided into two sections. The first talks about how the Vatican presents itself to the outside world through its press office, through the daily newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano” and through a very unusual Jesuit magazine, “La Civiltà Cattolica”.
The second section talks about how the foreign press reports Vatican news. The “foreign press” in this case means Vatican correspondents who are not part of the Holy See: who they are, how they work, what formats they follow, and what problems they have to deal with.
**A. HOW THE VATICAN PRESENTS ITSELF
It took on its present name in 1966, at the end of the Second Vatican Council. The Council was really its test-bed, but it was already a demonstration of its shortcomings. The journalists reporting on the council preferred to resort to other information sources in order to get the news not provided by the official Vatican channels.
But it was through John Paul II that the press office took on its current shape. In a letter from the secretariat of state in 1986, and then in the “Pastor Bonus” constitution on the Roman Curia in 1988, the press office was given the responsibility of “spreading news of the acts of the supreme pontiff and the activities of the Holy See”, making it accountable to the first section of the secretariat of state.
But even before then, in 1984, a decision was made that shaped the destiny of the press office to the present day. Because in 1984 Joaquín Navarro-Valls – Spaniard, journalist, Opus Dei member who had taken a vow of chastity – became the press office’s director. He was nominated by a prelate of the Curia called Crescenzio Sepe, who today is a cardinal but at the time was the director of the information office of the secretariat of state. It was this same Sepe who in that same year also named the new editor of “L’Osservatore Romano”, Mario Agnes.
In his more than twenty years as the head of the press office, Navarro has proved himself to be much more than a simple means of communication. He has been a spin doctor, an editor, a PR man, and investigator, advisor, diplomat and ambassador for the pope.
He likes to recount that his working day never ends: “I’m in touch with the entire world, 24 hours a day. In the daytime I receive phone calls from Europe and Africa, in the evening and at night from America, then just before dawn from Japan and Asia”. But the actual journalists accredited to the Vatican see him very rarely. His office is inaccessible. He’s practically impossible to get on the telephone. He sees only a very limited circle of privileged professionals:. . .
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**A. HOW THE VATICAN PRESENTS ITSELF
by Sandro Magister
ROME, June 7, 2005 – The following presentation was first given on May 26 in France, at the Jean Moulin University in Lyon, on the invitation of the Club Media France and the local Institute of Italian Culture. It is divided into two sections. The first talks about how the Vatican presents itself to the outside world through its press office, through the daily newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano” and through a very unusual Jesuit magazine, “La Civiltà Cattolica”.
The second section talks about how the foreign press reports Vatican news. The “foreign press” in this case means Vatican correspondents who are not part of the Holy See: who they are, how they work, what formats they follow, and what problems they have to deal with.
**A. HOW THE VATICAN PRESENTS ITSELF
- The press office and its director. It is what it has to be**
It took on its present name in 1966, at the end of the Second Vatican Council. The Council was really its test-bed, but it was already a demonstration of its shortcomings. The journalists reporting on the council preferred to resort to other information sources in order to get the news not provided by the official Vatican channels.
But it was through John Paul II that the press office took on its current shape. In a letter from the secretariat of state in 1986, and then in the “Pastor Bonus” constitution on the Roman Curia in 1988, the press office was given the responsibility of “spreading news of the acts of the supreme pontiff and the activities of the Holy See”, making it accountable to the first section of the secretariat of state.
But even before then, in 1984, a decision was made that shaped the destiny of the press office to the present day. Because in 1984 Joaquín Navarro-Valls – Spaniard, journalist, Opus Dei member who had taken a vow of chastity – became the press office’s director. He was nominated by a prelate of the Curia called Crescenzio Sepe, who today is a cardinal but at the time was the director of the information office of the secretariat of state. It was this same Sepe who in that same year also named the new editor of “L’Osservatore Romano”, Mario Agnes.
In his more than twenty years as the head of the press office, Navarro has proved himself to be much more than a simple means of communication. He has been a spin doctor, an editor, a PR man, and investigator, advisor, diplomat and ambassador for the pope.
He likes to recount that his working day never ends: “I’m in touch with the entire world, 24 hours a day. In the daytime I receive phone calls from Europe and Africa, in the evening and at night from America, then just before dawn from Japan and Asia”. But the actual journalists accredited to the Vatican see him very rarely. His office is inaccessible. He’s practically impossible to get on the telephone. He sees only a very limited circle of privileged professionals:. . .
Full article
Covers:
**A. HOW THE VATICAN PRESENTS ITSELF
- The press office and its director. It is what it has to be
- “L’Osservatore Romano”. Vaste monde, petite paroisse
- “La Civiltà Cattolica”. The secrets of the secretariat of state
- Vatican correspondents. Who they are and how they work
- Conservatives and progressives. Origins and disintegration of a format
- New models for religious reporting**
