Vatican reporters need a rat-like cunning
If you want to join the ‘Vat Pack’ you must endure long periods of news starvation but be ready to pounce when a world-shaking story breaks We were in the Sistine Chapel for a preview of new systems to protect the world’s most famous ceiling. I and others, including Phil Pullella of Reuters, had cornered the engineer who designed the air conditioning when a tall, tanned gentleman materialised behind me and slipped in a question. “This is David Willey of the BBC, by the way,” said Phil, who began writing about the Vatican in 1980. “He and I have been reporting this story since the Crucifixion.” Amid chuckles, Phil added: “That’s not quite true. But we’ve covered the aftermath.” As a definition of the role of a Vatican correspondent – known in Italian journalistic slang as a vaticanista – it could scarcely be bettered. Not that all the men and women accredited to the Holy See are true vaticanisti. Those of us who belong to what our specialist colleagues term ‘‘the secular media’’ also have Italy to worry about. The upside of covering the Holy See is that you live in or around Rome, arguably the world’s most beautiful city. Depending on the depth of your employer’s pockets, you may also travel the world on papal tours.
