Front-row Vatican coverage:
Vincent F. Rocchio

Vincent F. Rocchio

Vincent F. Rocchio is author of Christianity and the Culture Machine: Media and Theology in the Age of Late Secularism. He has taught media and communications at Dartmouth College, the College of the Holy Cross and John Cabot University in Rome.  

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Top row, from left: Pope John XXIII (OSV News/Catholic Press Photo); Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Albino Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I, in 1972 (CNS); Pope John Paul II in 1978 (CNS/L'Osservatore Romano/Arturo Mari). Bottom row, from left: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis in 2016 (CNS/L'Osservatore Romano, handout); Pope Leo XIV on May 20, 2025 (OSV News/Reuters/Yara Nardi).

Will Pope Leo be a disruptor or caretaker? Recent papal history follows a pattern

Ever since Pope John XXIII was elected in 1958, the successors of St. Peter have established a pattern: pope as disruptor, followed by pope as caretaker. Will Leo continue the pattern?

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