In the downstairs cafe at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, the cappuccino is hot, sweet and as fragrant as the VAMPs who surround us: the well-dressed vaticanisti, or Vatican-Accredited Media Personnel, who follow and parse the Pope’s every move.
And they have seen and interpreted many popes, becoming as expert in Vaticanology as any Kremlinologist during the long days of the Cold War. From the glorious days of St John Paul the II to the more difficult times of Benedict XVI, they’ve seen, discussed, filmed, blogged and written it all.
