Delia Buckley Gallagher (born March 11, 1970) is an American journalist based in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

who currently serves as the Senior Editor for ''

Inside the Vatican ''Inside the Vatican'' is a monthly magazine relating to issues within the Roman Curia, at the Vatican in Rome, which is at the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole. History and profile ''Inside the Vatican'' is ...

'' magazine. She formerly served as

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

's Faith and Values Correspondent. Based in New York, Gallagher was a long time

Vatican Analyst,

Vaticanologist Vaticanology is a term coined in the 20th century to describe the field of journalism and research studying and reporting about how the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church operate. It is named after the Vatican City, the Holy See's sovereign ...

, and religious journalist. Prior to joining CNN full time, she lived in Rome for 7 years. In Rome, she wrote a weekly column for

Zenit News Agency ZENIT was a non-profit news agency that reported on the Catholic Church and matters important to it from the perspective of Catholic doctrine. Its motto was "the world seen from Rome." The agency suspended operations at the end of 2020, citing the ...

and was a contributing editor for the magazine. The History Channel Documentary, "Angels and Demons Decoded" released by A & E Television Networks profiled Gallagher commenting on Dan Brown's bestseller book which was made into a movie. Subsequently, Gallagher moderated the Angels and Demons movie press conference film debut in Rome on stage with Tom Hanks, Ron Howard and Dan Brown often speaking in Italian and English. She knows Pope Benedict XVI personally and travelled extensively with John Paul II, including his last trip to Poland. Upon the death of Pope John Paul II, she broadcast and commented for CNN Worldwide covering the unfolding event.

Early years and education

Delia Gallagher's parents are both

Irish immigrants The Irish diaspora ( ga, Diaspóra na nGael) refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner and Meeder, The ...

from

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

& Donegal. They met in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and wed in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1969. Delia was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

a year later. She grew up in nearby San Jose, where her parents still reside. With four younger brothers, Delia is the oldest of five children. Gallagher attended St. Joseph of Cupertino School, then attended the college preparatory school of Saint Lawrence Academy. Delia earned her undergraduate degree at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

(where she was an editor o
The Foghorn
the school newspaper). She then attended

Blackfriars, Oxford Blackfriars Priory (formally the Priory of the Holy Spirit) is a Dominican religious community in Oxford, England. It houses two educational institutions: Blackfriars Studium, the centre of theological studies of the English Province of the D ...

University (founded by the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

), where she got her MPhil in

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. Gallagher speaks fluent

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and conversational French.

Pre-CNN Life

While still in college, Gallagher started working part-time as a writer a
KCBS San Francisco
She later joined the AM News Radio station full-time after graduation. Her former colleagues described her as "extremely nice, focused, and hard working." After graduate school, Delia joined the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(OUP) as a researcher and editor. Her work involved being part of the team that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls CD-ROM. She moved to Rome in 1998 and started as a writer for

. As a member of the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

Press Corp, she traveled with

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and within

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. She also wrote a weekly column for the

called "Rome Notes.", and has followed for

the 2002 Molise earthquake. Gallagher lived in the Roman neighborhood of

Parioli Parioli () is the 2nd ''quartiere'' of Rome, identified by the initials Q. II. The toponym is also used to indicate the urbanistic area 2B of the '' Municipio Roma II''. The name comes from Monti Parioli, a series of tufa hills, and was given ...

CNN Life

After taking the position of Faith and Values Correspondent in September 2005, Gallagher reported on a wide range of topics for the television network. Some of her work included reports for Vatican Rules on

Homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

and the Priesthood,

Hassidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

Jews in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and

Intelligent Design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

. She also hosted a highly rated two-hour special entitled ''The Last Days of Pope John Paul II: The Untold Stories'', which aired on the first anniversary of the pope's death. Alongside these examples of her work, she has also done an interview with the author

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels ''The Vampire Chronicles''. B ...

. Delia appeared regularly on CNN as an expert on religious matters. Most recently, her expertise was consulted on

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

's first encyclical, ''

Deus caritas est ''Deus caritas est'' ( en, "God is Love"), subtitled ''De Christiano Amore'' (''Of Christian Love''), is a 2005 encyclical, the first written by Pope Benedict XVI, in large part derived from writings by his late predecessor, Pope John Paul I ...

''. She was a regular contributor to "On the Story" and a frequent guest on Lou Dobbs,

CNN Newsroom ''CNN Newsroom'' (also simply known as ''Newsroom'') is an American news programming block that airs on CNN. Broadcasting for 43 hours each week, ''Newsroom'' features live and taped news reports, in addition to analysis from experts on the iss ...

, and

Anderson Cooper 360 Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson R ...

Recent written work

2006.03.3
A Peek Through the Vatican Curtains
(CNN)
2006.03.3

(CNN)
2004.09.0
Holy House of Loreto; New Saints; Marvelli and Suriano
(Zenit)
2004.08.2
An Icon the Pope Hoped to Deliver Personally
(Zenit)
2004.08.1
Cardinal Poupard on Inculturation; Olympic Peace
(Zenit) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Delia American broadcast news analysts American expatriates in Italy American people of Irish descent American Roman Catholics American reporters and correspondents Writers from San Jose, California Alumni of Blackfriars, Oxford 1970 births Living people Writers from San Francisco University of San Francisco alumni CNN people