Journalist at Jubilee event critiques Vatican’s PR, organizational efforts
January 31, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: Elise Ann Allen, a correspondent who attended the recent Jubilee of the World of Communications, offered a critical reflection on the three-day event.
The official program “contained no description of when to meet and where, and what access to the various appointments would entail,” she recalled. “No press conference was held” in advance, “with the Vatican opting instead to send out a spray of emails containing documents and information sheets that journalists had to wade through on their own in an attempt to obtain information, and without the ability to ask questions.”
“A ‘meeting point,’ for the event was finally organized by the Vatican, but not until Jan. 24, the day the Jubilee for the World of Communication started,” she continued. “The WIFI signal at the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, where the main jubilee event and audience with the Pope took place Jan. 25, did not work.”
Allen added:
These challenges represent a longstanding gripe about the declining efficacy of the Vatican’s communications apparatus, where despite Pope Francis’s reforms, information is increasingly difficult to obtain in a clear and timely manner, and where regular engagement with the press is becoming a relic of the past.The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
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