A little before Christmas, I was very grateful to be asked by the Catholic Herald to pen the new Vatican Dispatch, giving readers a twice-weekly update from Rome and a summary of the chief Vatican stories of the week.

As an Irish-English journalist specialising in the Vatican for the last six years, my work has mainly been published in American Catholic outlets, and so the Catholic Herald’s Vatican Dispatch marked a rare treat for me, enabling me to write such columns while engaging with audiences both abroad and now at home.

The Catholic Church has so much vigour in North America, and this naturally spills over into the wide variety of Catholic media outlets based in that great nation. As a journalist writing for such an audience, it has been rewarding to witness that fervour in the Faith and the fruits it can lead to. Yet I always clung to my desire somehow to contribute to the development of the Faith closer to home: to partake in a Catholic revival back in the UK. “Mary’s Dowry” is no longer so naturally associated with the Catholic Faith as it once was, and this is something our martyred forefathers would surely lament.

In recent times, it seems this sorry rejection of the Faith in the UK has begun to reverse itself. Slowly, quietly, but noticeably, a new love of the Catholic Faith and adherence to the Church’s Creed is spreading through the nation. For many, the catastrophic years of the Covid-19 lockdowns removed any certainty that had hitherto been placed in earthly goals or secular society. What had previously satisfied, or at least distracted, many was harshly stripped away, leaving a gaping hole. A new search for meaning, truth and thus ultimately God has begun on these shores, and the Church alone has the answers in the fullness of Her teaching. In other words, it is an exciting and challenging time to be a Catholic here.

That is why I am very happy to be joining the Catholic Herald as its new Vatican correspondent. The Catholic Herald has a storied place in the history of Catholicism on these isles. At a time when many religious media outlets have come and gone, the Catholic Herald has remained, and importantly its name still carries respect amongst Romans. It holds a unique position in the Catholic media world: its heart being in the UK, but its loyal readership distributed throughout the globe.

As Catholicism is discovered anew by many, the voice of the Catholic Herald is as important as ever in bringing reliable news about the Church directly to its readers. Catholics, wherever they may be, need the reassurance of knowing that the news and analysis they consume regarding the Church is reliable and trustworthy.

Sensationalism and scandal sell fast but disappoint equally swiftly, and like anything addictive leave one thirsting for more in order to satisfy the craving. Informed analysis and news conveyed in context are perhaps less eye-catching, but more real, and crucially more truthful.

It is this kind of trusted reporting that I look forward to presenting to Catholic Herald readers. I seek to provide you with news from the very heart of the Church as it happens, along with the analysis needed to explain its context and importance.

I am particularly excited by the vision of the Catholic Herald’s editor-in-chief, Edward Barrett-Shortt, whom I look forward to working with in making the Catholic Herald the de facto home for Catholic news about the Vatican and the wider Church. We will bring it – whole and entire – to our readers in real time, yet without compromising the truth.

For a number of years I have been a permanent member of the Holy See Press Corps, graced with the privilege of reporting from Rome on some of the largest issues in the Church’s life in recent years. In this capacity, reporting on the Vatican has become part of daily life: whether breaking news online, holding curial officials to account at press conferences or securing exclusive interviews with some of the leading prelates of our day. I pride myself on bringing my readers these updates swiftly and truthfully, so that you can be the first to know while also being reliably informed.

One thing I will not hide is that I am a practising Catholic, and thus my reporting will have one key bias: towards the Truth that is Christ. There will be no thinly veiled activism masquerading as “journalism” found under my byline.

Outside of that, Catholic Herald readers can expect me to deliver the news as I have until now – in a timely but accurate manner. There will be no avoiding difficult questions and realities, including when it comes to the life of the Church and the Vatican, which in our age is beset by a number of crises both within and without. Nor will there be wild speculation or any fabrication of “news” in order to garner instant clicks. This tarnishes the name of Catholic journalism and, at worst, leads people away from the Church.

For the past number of months I have been covering the Vatican beat for the American outlet Pelican+, I look forward to making the Catholic Herald my main home and providing the standard of Vatican reporting that readers of this storied publication would expect.

It is always a good time to be Catholic, no matter where one is based. But as the Church in the UK and the US finds itself in the renewed spotlight – both positive and negative – it is even more important for us to be firmly and unapologetically Catholic.

As the Catholic Herald’s newly appointed Vatican correspondent, I am delighted to be a part of that reality in whatever manner possible.