Vaticanology is a term coined in the 20th century to describe the field of

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

and research studying and reporting about how the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

and the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

operate. It is named after the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

, the Holy See's sovereign territory enclaved within

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 ...

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 ...

. Particular emphasis tend to be placed on the selection and appointment mechanisms by which the Church's leadership emerges. A journalist or scholar focusing on this area of expertise is sometimes referred to as a Vaticanologist, Vaticanist, or Vatican watcher.

Origin and history

It owes its origins to the term Kremlinologist, which was used to describe media, academic and commentary experts who followed the function of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in general and the functioning and selection of the leadership elite in particular. Both the Kremlin and the Holy See operated in a great degree of secrecy and mystery, hence the attention paid to "experts" who were presumed to be able to read subtle nuances indicating who was on the "way up", who was on the "way down" and who were the "ones to watch" within their leadership elites. Famous Vaticanologists include the author and commentator

Peter Hebblethwaite Peter Hebblethwaite (30 September 1930 – 18 December 1994) was a British Jesuit priest and writer. After leaving the priesthood, he became an editor, journalist (' Vaticanologist') and biographer. Life Hebblethwaite was born in Ashton-unde ...

, who wrote biographies of (among others)

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

and

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

, as well as a best-selling account of the events of 1978 in '' Year of Three Popes''. Robert Blair Kaiser was a noted contributor in the field, who did much reporting on the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

for ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

''. In 2005, with the first

papal election A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. ...

in the age of the continuous news cycle and the internet, many ''Vaticanologists'' became prominent through their wide dissemination both on television and in online publications.

Blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

s have become a popular means for amateur Vatican watchers to share their thoughts and insights.

List of recent vaticanists

John L. Allen Jr. John L. Allen Jr. (born January 20, 1965) is an American journalist and author who serves as editor of the Catholic news website ''Crux'', formerly hosted by ''The Boston Globe'' and now independently funded. Before moving to ''The Boston Globe ...

,
Crux Now
' *

Matthew Bunson Matthew Bunson (born 1966) is an American author of more than fifty books, a historian, professor, editor, Roman Catholic theologian, Senior Contributor for EWTN, the Catholic multimedia network, Senior Fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical T ...

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

and ''

National Catholic Register The ''National Catholic Register'' is a Catholic newspaper in the United States. It was founded on November 8, 1927, by Matthew J. Smith as the national edition of the '' Denver Catholic Register''. The ''Registers current owner is the Ete ...

'' * Gerson Camarotti,

Globo News GloboNews is a Brazilian news-based pay television channel, owned by Canais Globo, a division of Grupo Globo. The channel was relaunched on 18 October 2010 with a new logo and a new slogan "''Nunca desliga''!" (''Never turns off''!") and more in ...

Massimo Franco Massimo Franco (6 November 1954 in Rome) is an Italian journalist, author, and member of the editorial board for the Italian newspaper ''Corriere della Sera''. Biography Massimo Franco is a journalist for ''Corriere della Sera.'' He previously w ...

, '' Corriere della Sera'' *

Eric Frattini Eric Frattini (born 1963 in Lima) is a Spanish writer. Works *''La Entrevista. El arte y la ciencia'' (1994) *''Tiburones de la Comunicación'' (1996) *''Guía Básica del Cómic'' (1998) *''Guía de las Organizaciones Internacionales'' (1 ...

, Mauri Spagnol Group,

Sperling & Kupfer Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

Delia Gallagher Delia Buckley Gallagher (born March 11, 1970) is an American journalist based in Rome who currently serves as the Senior Editor for ''Inside the Vatican'' magazine. She formerly served as CNN's Faith and Values Correspondent. Based in New York, G ...

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 * Michael Hewitt-Gleeson, vaticanology.net * Robert Hutchinson, author of ''When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City'' * Sandro Magister, ''

L'Espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is '' Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ' ...

'' * Vasin Manasurangul, Pope Report * George Menachery, '' Vatican Adventure''Read following articles at http://www.indianchristianity.com: Wednesday Morning, 2013 March 13.Black Smoke for the first time in 2013 - The Mass for the Election of the Pope/Missa Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice - Possible Popes2013 - SUNDAY MORNING - The Sistine Chimney and the Two Stoves Installed - Cardinal Oswald Gracias for Pope - Conclave must not be Pre-poned - Prof. Menachery - ELECTING A NEW POPE: THE CONCLAVE AND ALL THAT - LAST DAYS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II * Robert Mickens, globalpulse.com * Frédéric Mounier, '' La Croix'' *

Robert Moynihan Robert Moynihan is the founding editor of ''Inside the Vatican'' magazine, a journal on Church and world affairs. Education He obtained his B.A. in English from Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He later received his Ph.D. ...

, ''

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 ...

'' *

Gerard O'Connell Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

, '' America'' * Rocco Palmo, Whispers in the Loggia * Catherine Pepinster, ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...

'' * Elisabetta Piqué, ''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Na ...

'' * Marco Politi, ''

La Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnol ...

'' * Philip Pullela,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

Peter Steinfels Peter F. Steinfels (born 1941) is an American journalist and educator best known for his writings on religious topics. A native of Chicago, Illinois, and a lifelong Roman Catholic, Steinfels earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University and joined th ...

, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' *

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson (born 1962) is an English journalist, editor and author. He is an associate editor of ''The Spectator''. Previously he worked as editor-in-chief of the ''Catholic Herald'' and for ''The Daily Telegraph'' where he was religious a ...

, ''

The Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a magazine, published in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of abo ...

'' * Andrea Tornielli, ''

Il Giornale ''il Giornale'' ( en, The Newspaper) is an Italian language daily newspaper published in Milan, Italy. History and profile The newspaper was founded in 1974 by the journalist Indro Montanelli, together with the colleagues Enzo Bettiza, Ferenc ...

'', '' La Stampa'' *

Paul Vallely Paul Vallely CMG is a British writer on religion, ethics, Africa and development issues. In his seminal 1990 book ''Bad Samaritans: First World Ethics and Third World Debt'', he first coined the phrase that campaigners needed to move "from char ...

, papal biographer, ''Pope Francis – Untying the Knots'' * Giancarlo Zizola, ''Le Monde''

References

{{Reflist Catholic culture Election of the Pope Subfields of political science Society of Vatican City