Chapter 12: Habemus Papam: Pope Francis’ Election as a Religious Media Event

Giulia Evolvi

Summary

The chapter explores the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of Pope Francis as media events in the Italian context. The study focuses on a content analysis of four Italian newspapers with different political biases, and this chapter also incorporates an analysis of national television and radio news. The analysis highlights three common themes that characterize these media events: a framing of the Pope as a media focus more than as the leader of the Church, a tendency to include elements of popular religiosity and an emphasis on the Italian origins of Pope Francis. The resignation of Benedict XVI and the election of Francis are relevant for the global understanding of how religious events are mediated. The attention that the Italian media gave to the Vatican during these events is important also in order to understand the current status and the media focus of Pope Francis.

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vidi e conobbi l’ombra di colui

che fece per viltade il gran rifiuto

I saw and recognized the shade of him

Who by his cowardice made the great refusal.

Dante – Inferno III, 59–60

The words of Dante – far and away Italy’s most famous poet – probably resonated in every

Italian ear on the February 12, 2013 when Pope Benedict XVI resigned. In Divina Commedia, Dante

describes an imaginary journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven where he meets politicians,

artists, members of the clergy, and other famous people of his time. Dante placed in Hell those whom

he despised, like Pope Celestine V, whose crime was cowardice: he ‘made the great refusal’ by

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abdicating in 1294 and leaving the papacy to Boniface VIII, who later clashed with Dante and

contributed to his exile from Florence.

Dante would likely put in Hell Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, and mark him a coward

like Celestine V. Italian media, indeed, often used Celestine V’s precedent to comment Benedict XVI’s

resignment1 and to stress the extraordinary character of his decision. The story of a Pope who resigns

was part of popular culture even before Josef Ratzinger, as filmmaker Nanni Moretti centered his 2011

movie ‘Habemus Papam’ – ‘We have a Pope’, the Latin expression used during the election – on a

fictional papal refusal. In Moretti’s movie, the character of Cardinal Melville, reluctantly elected Pope,

decides to resign from the papacy out of shyness and depression. However, Italian media reporters

tended to describe Josef Ratzinger’s resignation as an act of bravery and humility, underlining the

sensationalism of his decision, rather than focusing on cowardice or on the scandals he faced during his

papacy. Moreover, media reported this event not only as unprecedented, but as a sign of an imminent

change within the Catholic Church.

Pope Ratzinger’s resignation became a prominent part of the media event that was created

around the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, on March 13, 2013. Newspapers and

television news often talked about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in order to create expectation

for the election of the new Pope. Francis, indeed, triggered a rupture with the past partly because he

started his papacy after a sensational resignation, during a period of scandals and controversies for the

Catholic Church. He confirmed the expectations of change the media had created: he is the first non-

European Pope, the first Jesuit to be Pope, and the first one to choose the name Francis, after Saint

Francis of Assisi.

This chapter analyzes Bergoglio’s election as an example of a religious media event. It aims to

explore how Italian media framed this event and which discourses were employed to capture its

1 See Rai News newscast, ‘Vatican, the papacy of Josef Ratzinger’, retrieved from http://video.sky.it/news/mondo/dimissioni_papa_georg_ratzinger_una_cosa_naturale/v150176.vid.

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relevance. While papal elections always hold characteristics of media events, this study demonstrates

that Francis’ election had a unique character not only because it followed a resignation, but also

because it was framed as a new start for the Catholic Church. Literature on religion and media in Italy

and on media events contextualizes Bergoglio’s election and its media implications. By analyzing

Italian newspaper articles and television broadcasts about both Ratzinger and Bergoglio, this study

individuates the most prominent patterns in covering the papal election. The analysis elucidates three

main discourses that Italian media built around the two Popes: personalization, popularization, and

globalization. In conclusion, the chapter explains why Pope Francis’s election is relevant to our

understanding of religious media events, and how Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation contributed to

frame media coverage of the papal election.

Catholicism and Media in Italy

Papal elections, for their global character and the involvement of the audience, are usually framed as

media events. While news about the Catholic Church is relevant worldwide, media events reporting

papal elections assume a unique character in Italy. Because the Vatican is situated in Rome, the Pope’s

election has many implications for Italian economy and politics. Moreover, despite the fact that the

Vatican’s official language is Latin, the Pope and the Cardinals mainly speak Italian, and this results in

a privileged relationship among Italian audiences, Italian politics, and the Catholic Church. The causes

of this situation are rooted in Italy’s history and its religiosity. Traditionally, the center of Catholicism

is Europe, and Italy in particular. Even if the last three elections resulted in, respectively, a Polish, a

German, and an Argentinian Pope, many of the Cardinals in the last Conclave – 23% of the total – were

Italian (Pew Research Center 2013). In Italy, Catholicism is undoubtedly the majoritarian religion:

63.1% of the Italian population self-identify as Catholic, and the number of citizens who received

Catholic baptism is estimated to be around 90% (CENSIS 2012).

Catholicism benefits from a privileged role in Italian society and politics, especially since 1929,

when Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Pacts with the Fascist regime. According to Gentile (2006), the

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Catholic Church had a controversial relationship with Fascism: the Vatican did not support Mussolini’s

actions, but gained considerable institutional power during the regime. Catholic privileges continued in

the postwar period, as in 1947 the Italian government recognized the previous concordat of the Lateran

Pacts with the Catholic Church (Toronto 2008) and the Vatican remained involved in political activities

by offering its support to the Christian Democratic Party (Samuels 1997; Diamanti and Ceccarini 2007;

Domenico 2005; Salvati 2003). Although the concordat was revised in 1984 to include other religions,

the Vatican still exercises a strong influence on contemporary Italian politics and civil society, as

exemplified by the presence of Catholic symbols in public spaces (Mancini 2010) and Catholic

education in public schools (Frisina 2011).

The Catholic Church also has a strong religious presence in Italian media. The Italian media system

is considered peculiar because centralization of power and political interferences result in less freedom

of press when compared to other democratic countries (Ragnedda and Muschert 2011). The Italian

press is thus defined as ‘polarized pluralist’ because of the ‘integration of the media into party politics,

weaker historical development of commercial media, and a strong role of the state’ (Hallin and Mancini

2004, 11). The position of religion in Italian news is unique because, differently from the US and other

European countries (Hoover 1998), Italian media report a great amount of news about Catholicism

without usually granting broadcast time to other religious groups (Naso 2012). Furthermore, Italian

news often focus on political events that are deeply intertwined with Catholicism. As a journalist

working for the Catholic magazine Il Regno asserts: ‘Religion [Catholicism] in Italy tends to have the

attention of Italian newspapers especially if it is connected with politics, or better, when an ecclesiastic

figure intervenes in politics’ (personal communication, July 17, 2013). While it occupies a prominent

role, religion tends to appear in Italian media mostly as soft news, with relevance accorded to everyday

happenings of the Pope and other members of the Catholic Church rather than informative religious

analysis of the Vatican (Mocellin 2012).

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The historical and social position of the Catholic Church in Italy and, in particular, within the Italian

media system contributed to frame the election of Pope Francis as an unprecedented and globally

relevant media event.

Religious Media Events

Pope Francis’ election, attracting global media attention, was one of the most significant media

events of 2013.2 Dayan and Katz (1994) define media events as important historical and cultural

moments that are able to create a sense of shared beliefs among the community. Events like the Royal

Wedding of Charles and Diana or Kennedy’s funeral are interruptions of the everyday routine that

create social solidarity among the audience. In the 20th century, media took on a fundamental role in

both describing events and staging the audience’s perception. Dayan and Katz describe media events as

‘holidays that spotlight some central value or some aspect of collective memory’ (ix). The authors

individuate three different scripts in media events: contest, conquest, and coronation. The election of

the Pope can be considered an example of coronation because it is a recurrent but not fixed event, such

as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The papal election does not only have a ceremonial dimension,

but also creates a sense of expectation about who will be elected as Pope, an aspect which is relevant in

the media coverage of the event. Couldry, Hepp, and Krotz (2009) offer a critique of Dayan and Katz’s

work by focusing on a more nuanced description of media events, including moments that do not fall

precisely into one of the three aforementioned categories. By contesting the idea of social solidarity and

assuming a post-Durkheimian perspective, Couldry, Hepp, and Krotz elaborate an alternate definition

of media events as ‘certain situated, thickened, centering performances of mediated communication

that are focused on a specific thematic core, cross different media products and reach a wide and

diverse multiplicity of audiences and participation’ (p. 12). In this perspective, media events assume a

2 Rai News in its special ‘Pictures of the year’ placed the election of Francis among the ten most important national and international news of 2013. Retrieved from http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/articoli/stupore-chiesa-Papa-Francesco-e8f17e74-7553-4772-bd5d-e9b0f9b8d261.html.

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fundamental ritual dimension. Couldry (2012) defines rituals as ‘enactments of power through form’

(p. 66) because media power operates on ritual power by creating symbols and social order. Therefore,

the ritual dimension of media events helps to understand the media potential to create shared meanings.

The scholarship on religion and media thus offers relevant insights to analyze the ritualistic dimension

of media events. Various scholars have explored religion and media as intertwined and related

phenomena, and have often analyzed ritual practices from a media perspective (Hoover and Clark

2002; Hoover 2006; Morgan 2008; Lundby 2013).

The concept of ritual can provide a valid metaphor to indicate media’s ability to enact a common

view of sharing and participation (Carey and Adam 1992). In certain cases, contemporary media

validate actual rituals, overcoming the boundaries between sacred and profane and causing social

transformation. Hoover (2006) explains the 9/11 terroristic attacks and the 2004 U.S. elections as

inventories of symbolic resources that created meaning for the audience, thus becoming media events

with a ritualistic dimension. Media, indeed, provide spaces for experiencing reality and for communal

suffering, conferring a public dimension to the private sphere of the family. Similarly, media hold

potential for community and identity formation by allowing direct or indirect participation in media

rituals, and by circulating narratives that can help articulating national identities.

The ritualistic perspective of media events is further enhanced in the context of religious

ceremonies. Hepp and Krönert (2009), for example, assert that events like Catholic World Youth Day

are hybrid as they have both a religious and a popular dimension. While religious celebrations have a

sacred character, media report them mainly with the aim of matching the standards of celebrity and

popular culture. This perspective remains relevant in the case of the election of Pope Francis, when a

media event was created to match the expectations of the general public rather than solely in religious

terms.

Francis’ election holds unique characteristics that could add complexity to the understanding of

ritual dimensions within media. The present research addresses this topic while filling an academic gap

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in the literature on religion and media in Italy. Despite the interest of Italian scholars for the field of

media and religion (Pace 2013), they tend to ignore the national specificity of the Italian context. Given

the particular relationship between Italian society, Italian media, and Catholicism, the study of religion

and media in Italy could add an original perspective to the field, offering terms of comparison for the

study of other national and international media environments.

Analyzing Papal Elections

This study analyzes both newspaper articles and television broadcasts in order to capture visual and

textual discourses connected with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of Pope

Francis.

With regard to the printing press, the analysis focuses on four Italian national newspapers that are

not religiously oriented. Two of them, Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, usually represent

mainstream public discourses, while the other two, Il Manifesto and Il Giornale, openly express

different political affiliations (MarketLine Industry Profile 2013). Indeed, Il Manifesto self-defines as a

communist newspaper, while Il Giornale is close to the conservative positions of former Prime

Minister Silvio Berlusconi. This study analyzes these four newspapers because they show how

reporters framed Francis’ elections from heterogeneous ideological viewpoints. The study employs a

qualitative content analysis of 338 articles, which the four newspapers published from February 12 to

14, 2013 (resignation of Benedict XVI), and from March 14 to 16, 2013 (election of Francis). Table 1

shows the number of articles the newspapers devoted to the two events, while Chart 1 shows the pages

dedicated to Benedict XVI and Francis in relation to the totality of pages of the newspapers. Despite

the different structures and biases of the newspapers, the analysis indicates that they all framed the

news of the resignation and the election as central during the period taken into account. Face-to-face

interviews with media practitioners working for Catholic media outlets performed in 2013 and 2014

help understand the context of news production about the papal election.

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With regard to television news, the study analyzes the Internet archive of two national and

nonreligious broadcast companies: Rai News and Sky TG24. Rai News gathers the news broadcasts of

the three channels of RAI, the Italian State Radio and Television service. Sky TG24 is a news cable

television channel in Italian that was founded in 2003. Both channels provided detailed coverage of

Francis’s election. In this case, the difference between RAI News and Sky TG24 is not ideological, but

qualitative: while the former focused more on Italian news and produced specials about the Pope that

were sometimes longer than 40 minutes, the latter had a higher number of shorter services with a

greater international focus and attention to the global audience. The study takes into account 95 videos,

which represent the totality of results obtained by using the ‘search’ option with the keywords ‘Election

of Pope Francis’ and ‘Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI’. The chapter does not only focus on videos

released immediately after the two events, but analyzes all newscasts about the resignation and the

election in the timeframe of a year. This choice is motivated by the fact that both broadcast companies

gave great attention to the first anniversary of Francis’ election, and the videos they released help us to

understand the relevance of this media event. Table 2 shows the number of videos the two broadcasting

companies released about the Popes in the analyzed timeframe.

To better analyze the election of Francis as a media event, the chapter also takes into consideration

news video of the elections of the previous five Popes: Ratzinger in 2005, John Paul II and John Paul I

in 1978, Paul VI in 1963, and John XIII in 1958. The first three papal elections are available on You

Tube as RAI broadcasts, while the last two are in the archives of Istituto Luce, an Italian newsreel

production company that has been active since 1924.

The analysis of newspapers and television broadcasts shows that nonreligious media outlets

considered the election of Francis as extremely relevant and reported it through some common themes.

Despite the ideological and structural differences of the news sources taken into account, the study

revealed many similarities in news reporting. Indeed, newspapers and television programs often quoted

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each other and their different ideological biases did not prevent journalists from extensively reporting

the event.

Papal Elections as Media Events

The election of the Pope is an event that follows strict traditional rules. The media coverage of the

five papal elections that preceded Pope Francis’ shows how the events all followed the same patterns.

In each case, broadcast starts by showing people from all over the world in St Peter’s square, waiting

for the announcement of the new Pope. The Conclave can take days to nominate a new Pope, and

during this time, media coverage mirrors the sense of expectation the square experiences. The first

crucial moment of the media event is represented by the cloud of smoke from the Vatican chimney:

black smoke indicates that the Cardinals have not reached a decision after voting, while white smoke

signifies the election of the new Pope. Even though the name and the face of the Pope are made public

after about thirty minutes, an explosion of joy in the square accompanies the sight of white smoke,

which is followed by bells tolling. Because, according to Catholic doctrine, the Holy Spirit inspires the

name of the Pope, the news of the election is positive per se, regardless of the person who is chosen to

be Pope.

Media coverage occupies the time between the smoke and the announcement with guesses on who

the new Pope will be, creating even higher expectations. Reporters usually employ these periods of

waiting to interview people in the square and share their emotions with the audience at home. The

announcement starts with the solemn words in Latin of the Senior Cardinal Deacon from the balcony of

St Peter’s: ‘nuntio vobis gaudium magnum: habemus Papam’. After the standard words ‘habemus

Papam’ – ‘we have a Pope’ – the Cardinal announces in Latin the given name of the elected Cardinal

and the new name he has chosen as Pope. Subsequently, the newly elected Pope appears on the balcony

and addresses the audience in Italian.

This is usually a highly emotional moment, as media show believers in the square crying, waving

flags, and screaming the name of the new Pope. Media focus on the intense participation of people in St

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Peter’s Square to create boundaries with believers at home. Interviewing people is a way to reveal how

relevant the Pope and his election are for the population. Reporters usually provide commentaries and

background information about the new Pope right after the announcement of the name, as for example

they stressed the humble origins of Pope John XIII and the originality of the name of John Paul I.

Benedict’s Resignation and Francis’ Election

The media event of the election of Francis followed the same pattern as previous elections, but holds

some unique characteristics because of its connections to the resignation of Benedict XVI. The

resignation was not reported as a media event, because there was no powerful visual moment and

speech to mark the decision: Ratzinger made the announcement of his resignation only in front of the

Cardinals and in Latin.3 Therefore, television media focused more on the opinions of theologians and

other members of the clergy, as they were unable to broadcast images from the Vatican.

Josef Ratzinger, from the beginning of his papacy, established himself as a conservative and

noninnovative Pope. RAI journalists reported this impression at the moment of his election, stating that

Benedict XVI was an ‘aristocratic name’ and stressing that he was not the first German Pope.4 At the

moment of his resignation, media focused mostly on his precarious health conditions and described his

decision to leave the papacy as ‘humble’ and ‘brave’. For example, La Repubblica offered as its front

page headline: ‘The Pope resigns, memorable farewell’ with the subtitle, ‘I don’t have strength

anymore, I resign for the sake of the Church’. Media also addressed the scandals that emerged during

Ratzinger’s papacy and insisted on the unprecedented character of his decision. This was exemplified

by the Sky TG 24 broadcast ‘Incredulity in St Peter’,5 where reporters interviewed pedestrians in Rome

and accounted for their surprise for the resignation of the Pope.

3 ‘Benedict XVI announces his resignation in Latin’, retrieved from http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/media/Benedetto-XVI-annuncia-le-dimissioni-in-latino-2ade265b-b2a0-497d-976d-34dd9728e746.html.4 The video of the election is retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk9DNcw3SXc . 5 Retrieved from http://video.sky.it/news/mondo/dimissioni_ratzinger_le_parole_di_angela_merkel/v150164.vid.

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The critiques of Benedict XVI’s papacy and the sensational character of his decision contributed to

frame the media event of Francis’ election. Even though reporters could not know in advance the name

of the new Pope, they emphasized how the unprecedented situation of having two Popes in the Vatican

was a sign of innovation for the Church. Therefore, the media event of Francis’ election started to be

framed before the election itself, through the expectations created by Ratzinger’s resignation.

Newspaper articles and television broadcasts, indeed, framed Bergoglio as a highly innovative

choice from the very moment of his election. The live broadcast of RAI News and Sky TG 24 stressed

how Bergoglio was the first Latin American Pope and the first to choose the name Francis.

Immediately after the election, all major daily newspapers emphasized on their front pages that Jorge

Mario Bergoglio represented an innovation for the Roman Church, calling him ‘the Pope from the other

world’ (Il Giornale) or titling an article: ‘The new Church of Pope Francis’ (La Repubblica). The

Popes that preceded Francis often started their speeches with a request of prayer for the previous

deceased Pope. Bergoglio did the same, but referred to the still alive Pope Emeritus Ratzinger. The fact

of having, for the first time in centuries, two living Popes gave this media event a unique character.

The media event around the election of Francis concluded after his first speech in St Peter, but the

way media first covered the papacy of Bergoglio continued in the following months in a similar

manner. Television specials for the first year anniversary of his election testify how the media event

was not concluded in one day, but constantly celebrated through the media attention of everyday

thoughts and actions of the Pope. Shortly after the election, media started to picture Francis as a

humble Pope who was close to the poor and friendly with the common people. All the newspapers

under analysis devoted articles to the fact that he used public transportations and paid for his own hotel

room even after being elected Pope. The Rai News special ‘Francis Revolution’6 featured interviews

with housekeepers and cleaning ladies in Santa Marta, the humble residence where the Pope

unexpectedly chose to live. The words of the interviewees helped to confirm the image of the simple

6 Retrieved from http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/media/SPECIALE-TG1-04d11b40-a1d2-498b-85e7-5c1e67c1af38.html.

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and good Pope that his election had anticipated. Media also accorded particular importance to the

choice of the name Francis, as for example the Rai News special ‘My name is Francis’7 and the Sky TG

24 broadcast ‘Poor Church for poor people.’8 These television specials focus on the story of Brazilian

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, a friend of Bergoglio, who urged the new Pope to ‘think about the poor.’

Therefore, Bergoglio chose his name to render homage to Saint Francis of Assisi, a man famous for his

humble and simple lifestyle, as well as his closeness with the poor. Media used this anecdote to build a

whole narrative of poverty and sanctity around Pope Francis.

Dayan and Katz (1994) explain that media often associate personal stories to media events. In

occasion of the Royal Wedding, for example, media portrayed Diana as a modern-day Cinderella

marrying her prince. Similarly, Italian media often framed the new Pope’s election as the story of a

modern-day Saint Francis.9 The presence of Pope Emeritus Ratzinger makes this narrative even more

powerful, since media immediately compared the white and simple clothes and shoes and the proximity

to the poor of Pope Francis with his predecessor’s rich lifestyle and emotional aloofness.

Commonplaces in the Election of Francis

The media most emphatically stressed the similarities between Pope Francis and Saint Francis of

Assisi, describing the election – and partially Ratzinger’s resignation – through commonplaces that

supported the Saint Francis narrative. Silk (1998), in his account of religious coverage in the U.S.,

individuates certain commonplaces – that he refers to as koinoi topoi – that emerge in relation to

religious news. The analysis of newspapers and television broadcasts reveals three koinoi topoi that

helped to frame Francis’ election as a media event, which are personalization, popularization, and

globalization.

Personalization: The Pope is Not the Church

7 Retrieved http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/media/papa-Il-mio-nome-Francesco-17c2f5af-9b0b-4d1e-951e-b3b6317b0130.html.8 Retrieved from http://video.sky.it/news/mondo/papa_francesco_esquivel_rinnovera_la_chiesa/v153624.vid . 9 See Rai News broadcast ‘My name is Francis’, which stresses the similarities with Saint Francis and explains that the name shows a precise intention. Retrieved from http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/articoli/il-mio-nome-francesco-papa-03092334-c19f-4fa7-aac9-1128a25f439c.html.

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Media tend to separate the character of the Pope from the actions of the Church, in specific

describing Popes as individuals with positive connotation, and framing the Vatican as an institution

sometimes associated to negative aspects. For example, the newspaper Corriere della Sera framed

Benedict XVI’s resignation as a ‘humble decision’ and underscored his ‘freedom and dignity’

(February 14, 2013). However, the same newspaper titled its first page article on the 14th of February:

‘Church disfigured by rivalry’; the article does not blame the Pope directly as the leader of the Church,

but presents the Church itself, almost personalized, as an independent entity. By doing so, media

implicitly dissociated Pope Benedict XVI from controversies, such as denounces against pedophile

priests and financial scandals, which characterized his papacy. Media focus on soft news enhances this

tendency to separate the person of the Pope from the acts of the Church, privileging personal life stories

about the Pope rather than religious analysis of the institution of the Church.

Media also addressed the relationship Bergoglio allegedly had with the Argentinian dictatorship.

Immediately after the election, rumors about the fact that Bergoglio did not protect some priests from

torture by the regime in the 1970s spread through the Internet and social networks.10 However, most

media did not devote attention to the topic and tended to dismiss it, instead reporting the official

declarations of the Vatican. Corriere della Sera on the 16th of March published the article ‘Lies about

the Pope, never compromised with the dictatorship’. Sky TG 24 addressed these controversies in only

four broadcasts, and generally framed Bergoglio as a humble Cardinal incapable of doing harm. For

example, a broadcast shows Argentinian Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel praising the new

Pope and quickly dismissing the allegations against him.11 Media focused on both Ratzinger and

Bergoglio as people, without connecting them directly with the Church or other institutions, like the

Argentinian government.

10 The writer and journalist Horacio Verbitsky accused Bergoglio of having a relationship with the Argentinian dictatorship in his book ‘El Silencio: de Paulo VI a Bergoglio: las relaciones secretas de la Iglesia con la ESMA’, published in 2005.11 ‘Pope Francis, Esquivel: he will renovate the Church’, retrieved from http://video.sky.it/news/mondo/papa_francesco_esquivel_rinnovera_la_chiesa/v153624.vid .

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In global media representations, the Pope’s characterization has changed with the emergence of new

media and the expansion of mass media. News outlets progressively started to frame the Pope as a

public character rather than a religious one, describing him as a ‘celebrity’ (Brown 2009) or a

‘politician’ (Schlott 2008; Valenzano and Menegatos 2008). The dissociation between the Pope and the

institutions he is part of, such as the Roman Church or the Argentinian Church, contributed to focus on

Bergoglio as a person rather than on the problems of the Church and the historical reality of the

Argentinian dictatorship. Media were able to present Francis as a ‘fresh start’ for the Church by

emphasizing his proximity with the poor through pictures of him hugging children or women in a

friendly way as Cardinal of Buenos Aires. These characteristics created an even more personal

depiction of Francis, and stressed a humanity that distinguished him from his predecessor, thus creating

the hope of a new Church.

Popularization: Prophecies and Omens

Media devoted considerable time to prophecies and omens, using a language recalling some forms

of popular spirituality. For example, Il Giornale, Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, between the

12th and the 13th of February, published articles about a lightning that descended on the Vatican the

day of Benedict XVI’s resignation. Similarly, both Rai News12 and Sky TG 2413 devoted newscasts to

the lightning over the Vatican, framing it as a prophecy indicating imminent changes within the

Church. Media reporting also often mentioned other omens surrounding the resignation and the

election, like a white seagull on the Vatican’s chimney. As discussed previously, Catholic doctrine says

that the Holy Spirit chooses the Pope, and therefore there is no possibility of a wrong choice. However,

people often read omens that foretell a good or bad papacy. For example, during the election of John

Paul I, the smoke first appeared as black, before media and audience realized that it was in fact the

12 ‘11th of February 2013: the day that changed the Church’, retrieved from http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/articoli/11-febbraio-dimissioni-Benedetto-XVI-chiesa-a7a36426-ab0c-4c64-8b5c-11d699b03340.html . 13 ‘The cross of Benedict’, retrieved from http://video.sky.it/news/mondo/speciale_la_croce_di_benedetto/v151488.vid.

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‘white smoke’ announcing a new Pope.14 When John Paul I died only one month after his election,

media framed this technical problem –which was probably due to the Vatican’s stove – as a bad omen.

This reporting style brings to mind the historic tendency of the Catholic Church in Italy to

incorporate folk beliefs with official doctrine. The Church has often tolerated and even incorporated

forms of worship and superstition that develop around Saints and sacred places, especially for healing

purposes (Bader, Baker, and Molle 2012; Pace 2007). In the case of Benedict XVI’s resignation and

Francis’ election, media echoed the Church’s tendency of incorporating features of popular religion,

including references to the cult of saints by connoting Pope Francis as Saint Francis of Assisi. By

insisting on prophecies, media gave further legitimacy to the choice of Bergoglio as the new Pope. The

lightning over the Vatican that occurred the day Benedict XVI resigned seemed to ask a renovation of

the Church and foretells even further the choice of Francis as innovative Pope.

Globalization: The Pope between Global and Local

The Catholic Church is a global force whose aim is to reach people all over the world. The term

‘Catholic’ comes indeed from the Greek word katholikos, which means ‘universal’. Because the

election of a non-European Pope has relevance on a global scale, media often described Pope Francis

as ‘the first South American Pope’. Sky TG 24, in the newscast ‘Pope Francis elected, the joy of

Argentinians,’15 showed people in Buenos Aires celebrating their compatriot Pope. A maxi screen

placed in Plaza de Mayo, the central square of Buenos Aires, helped the Argentinians be part of the

media event by broadcasting the Enthronement ceremony live.

However, media stressed at the same time the Italian origins of the new Pope. The Italian character

of the papacy was first made clear to the audience during the election, when the white smoke as

accompanied by the marching band played the Italian national anthem in St Peter’s square. The Pope is

by definition the Bishop of Rome, and Italian authorities usually stress the entwinement of Italian

14 Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1NxtGQ56SI . 15 Retrieved from http://video.sky.it/news/mondo/papa_francesco_eletto_la_gioia_degli_argentini/v153354.vid.

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politics with Catholicism during religious celebrations. In occasion of the election of Francis, this

national character was further underscored by mention of the Italian origins of the new Pope. Sky TG

24, for example, alternated live newscasts from Buenos Aires with interviews to the inhabitants of

Portacomaro, the Italian town where Bergoglio’s grandparents are from and his distant relatives still

live.16

There might be different reasons behind this media coverage. Certainly, after two non-Italian Popes,

a part of the public expected an Italian one. However, since the majority of Catholics do not live in

Europe (Pew Research Center 2011), media welcomed the possibility of a non-European Pope. The

media framing of Francis as being simultaneously Argentinian and Italian conciliated these two

tendencies. On the one hand, Italy has a local Pope again, and not a ‘foreign’ Pope like Benedict XVI;

by noting this, media implicitly reestablished Italy as the center of Catholicism. On the other hand,

Francis is able to capture the complexity and heterogeneity of the Catholic Church as global and

transnational because he is the first Pope from a non-European country. By employing this duality,

media created a powerful image of Francis as both the local and global Pope that Italians needed.

Conclusion: The Francis Revolution

Media described the election of Pope Francis as the story of a modern-day Saint Francis, insisting on

the three topoi of personalization, popularization, and globalization. The media coverage of Francis’

election showed that media events do not only follow predetermined patterns, but can hold some

unique characteristics. Media, indeed, tended to portray Pope Francis as an innovative figure by

employing a style of reporting that differs from the coverage of his predecessor in various ways.

First of all, the themes media focused on in reporting Francis continued to be relevant after the

election. In the first year anniversary of his papacy, media have greatly reported soft news about Pope

Francis’ everyday activities, thus continuing to describe his innovative character in a personalized way.

16 See the newscast ‘Pope Francis, the voices of the inhabitants of Portacomaro’, retrieved from http://video.sky.it/news/mondo/papa_francesco_eletto_la_gioia_degli_argentini/v153354.vid, and the interview of a distant relative of Bergoglio, ‘The cousin of the Pope’, retrieved from http://video.sky.it/news/mondo/il_cugino_del_papa_a_skytg24_me_lo_aspettavo/v153325.vid.

16

Therefore, while media events usually last a limited amount of time, in this case media have kept on

telling the story of religious changes in Francis’ papacy and perpetuated the enthusiasm that is often

reserved to the election alone.

Secondly, media did not frame the event of Francis’ election in a neutral manner. Despite the media

under analysis being nonreligious in character, they tended to frame Pope Francis in an overwhelming

positive way. While media always capture the joy that accompanies the election of a new Pope, Italian

media framed Francis as the Pope the Church needed, implicitly validating and legitimating his

position. This is exemplified by the references to Saint Francis and the three topoi: Francis is

dissociated from the scandals of the Church in Rome and in Argentina, prophecies have favored him,

and he is able to conciliate Italian identities with global aspirations.

Thirdly, media emphasized the status of Francis because of the resignation of Benedict XVI. By

showing the two Popes together and the kind words of Francis for his predecessor, media could

describe a new Church that forgives and loves the old, conservative one. Indeed, Francis described

Ratzinger as ‘a grandfather’, wise and beloved.17 However, this metaphor could be read in other ways:

Ratzinger is old and no longer has power, but he reminds the Church of its past. Had Ratzinger passed

away, the comparison perhaps would not be so powerful because of the greater respect media accord to

the deceased, but his presence allows for a powerful term of comparison in the framing of Francis.

The election of Pope Francis, therefore, marked a change in the media coverage of religious news.

The perception of Pope Francis as an innovative character is not only motivated by his actions and

speeches, but also by a media coverage that created expectations and portrayed him in a favorable

manner even before his election. The tendency of Italian media to focus on Catholic soft news rather

than thorough analysis of the Vatican was evident in their emphasis of Pope Francis’ everyday

activities and personal characteristics. The presence of Pope Emeritus Ratzinger added a subtle but

17 This quote is reported in Rai News special ‘Francis Revolution’, retrieved from http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/media/SPECIALE-TG1-04d11b40-a1d2-498b-85e7-5c1e67c1af38.html.

17

relevant element to the media coverage of the election by offering a powerful term of comparison.

While Dante connoted the refusal of the papacy as an act of cowardice, Ratzinger’s resignation holds a

central role in the media event of Francis’ election. The coexistence of two Popes, indeed, contributed

to the media frame of the election as unique and of Pope Francis as innovative, allowing media to adopt

a reporting style increasingly attentive and responsive to the expectations of the general public about

the changes of the Catholic Church.

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Sky TG 24 archive: http://tg24.sky.it/tg24/

Appendix:

Table 1: Articles and Pages Dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis (or Related Events) from 12th to 14th of

February and from 14th to 16th of March.

Corriere della

Sera

La Repubblica Il Giornale Il Manifesto Total

Pages 65 66 49 16 196

Articles 118 83 98 39 338

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Il Corriere della Sera

La Repubblica Il Giornale Il Manifesto0

50

100

150

200

250

Pages about Benedict XVI

Pages about Francis I

Total Pages(3 days)

Chart 1: Pages Dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI from 12th to 14th of February, Pages Dedicated to Pope Francis from

14th to 16th of March, and Total Pages Published in Three Days.

22

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Table 2: Number of Videos Released by Rai News and Sky TG 24 about Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis

from February 2013 to March 2014.

Videos on

Francis (Moment

of the Election)

Videos on

Francis (First

Anniversary of the

Election)

Videos on

Benedict XVI

Total

Rai News 14 14 8 36

Sky TG

24

34 3 22 59

Total 48 17 30 95

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