Tracey McClure is an American journalist and the founding president of '' Donne in Vaticano'', the first women's association in

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

. McClure was born in the United States and grew up in the Washington, D.C., area. She then attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

in Massachusetts. After studying abroad in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, she moved there permanently and began working as a journalist. She worked for over 20 years as a producer, broadcaster, and reporter at

Vatican Radio Vatican Radio (; ) is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City. Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave, DRM, medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. ...

, Vatican City's official broadcasting service. She has also worked for the English-language version of the semi-official Vatican newspaper ''

L'Osservatore Romano ''L'Osservatore Romano'' is the daily newspaper of Vatican City which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication, a role ...

'' and for the city-state's

Dicastery for Communication The Dicastery for Communication (, ) is a department (dicastery) of the Roman Curia with authority over all communication offices of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Its various offices can be accessed through its website. These are the ...

. Her work has included co-creating the radio project "The Church’s Hidden Women," which brings to light the stories of women in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In 2016, McClure co-founded ''Donne in Vaticano'' ("Women in the Vatican"), the first women's organization in the heavily male-dominated Vatican City. She and the group's other organizers initially faced resistance within the Vatican—including from fellow women, some of whom expressed concern the group would constitute a "subversive association or a trade union"—and it took four years to get off the ground. However, it was eventually formally recognized by the city-state's authorities. ''Donne in Vaticano'' aims to serve as a "solidarity network" for women working in the Vatican. In addition to being a co-founder of the organization, McClure serves as its first president.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcclure, Tracey Living people Women in Vatican City Vatican City journalists Vatican City women journalists 21st-century American women journalists Smith College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Journalists from Washington, D.C.