Seminar in Rome for journalists covering the Catholic Church
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ORGANIZED BY THE PONTIFICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE HOLY CROSS
This coming Monday, September 9th, begins “The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Francis,” a week-long seminar organized by the School of Church Communications at Rome’s Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. The Seminar’s 9th edition will take place in Rome from September 9 to 14, 2024, and is designed to equip journalists with the tools to enhance their professional coverage of the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican.
The Seminar’s full program is available on the website https://www.church-
The Church Up Close provides insight into the nature of the Catholic Church and the inner workings of the Vatican. Conference sessions and interactive workshops address topics including the financial life of the Holy See, the role of women in the Church, the Magisterium of Pope Francis, the Vatican Reform and Vatican communications and the state of the Church in Africa and Asia.
In addition, the seminar features on-site visits and personal meetings with curial officials and veteran Vatican correspondents. Among other activities, participants will meet the Honorable Mr. Christopher Trott, British Ambassador to the Holy See; tour the Vatican Museums; and visit the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo.
Previous seminars have seen the participation of reporters from media outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph, Il Corriere della Sera, El País, the BBC and Le Monde, to name a few.
According to the president of the organizing committee, Rev. Prof. John Wauck, “the seminar was inspired by a series of classes that our school was already offering throughout the year for Rome-based ‘vaticanisti’. The Church Up Close is a condensed, intensified and amplified version of the class that has been tailored for journalists from around the globe.”
The goal is to provide both a basic understanding of the Vatican and an in-depth analysis of specific hot-button issues regarding the Church today. Journalists seeking to meet the demand with quality information are given the opportunity with The Church Up Close.
Fr. Wauck observes, “Covering an institution as old and as large as the Catholic Church has always been a huge challenge, and in today’s shrinking world, it’s becoming ever more necessary to tell even local stories about the Church from a global perspective. The seminar should help reporters do that. What’s more, Rome is an ideal setting for reflecting on religion and the media with journalists from around the world.”
The seminar has been made possible by a grant from the U.S.-based Our Sunday Visitor, and with the collaboration of the ISCOM and the AIGAV (International Association of Journalists accredited to the Vatican), and the International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ).
