The Pr Guru behind the Pope Who Is Charming the World
By Katie Engelhart
On Wednesday, Pope Francis interrupted his general audience in St Peter�s Square to�kiss and bless�a severely disfigured man. The subsequent photos � his eyes clenched tightly in prayer, his hands around the ailing man�s face � have gone viral. �Many saw echoes of Jesus�s healing of the leper,��reported�the Washington Post�that day. Just another fine move from the Pope who keeps on giving. Over the last few months, Pope Francis has nabbed headlines for�cold-calling�worshippers;�launching�Vatican sports teams;joking around�in a red clown�s nose (and also�a firefighter�s helmet);�allowing�a small child to hug him for the duration of a pilgrims address; and�promising�to personally baptise the baby of a woman who refused pressure from her partner to have an abortion. Breaking rank with his stiffer-lipped co-workers, Francis has recently�suggested�that �even the atheists� can be saved � andaffirmed�that he is totally not about to judge gay and lesbian Catholics. Last month, Pope Francis hit�10 million Twitter�followers, which placed him just behind�Kanye West. Far and wide,�observers�speak of�a �Francis�Effect�. But every modern-day media darling needs a PR machine, and Pope Francis is no exception. Enter Greg Burke: the 53-year-old Fox News correspondent turned Holy See handler (officially, Senior Communications Advisor to the Vatican�s Secretariat of State) who is quietly changing the way things are done in Vatican City. To some, Burke may have seemed an unlikely candidate for papal spin-doctor. He�s a layman without PR experience: a cheery American with a penchant for sports analogies. He�s also a member of the controversial Catholic order�Opus Dei: a traditionalist and a celibate whose spiritual practice�reportedly�involves self-flagellation. But after a year and a half on the job, Burke is credited with helping to open up and rejuvenate the Holy See. Of course, Burke would say it�s all Francis�s doing. �I�m going to kick the ball to the Pope,� Burke�explained�at a recent lecture in London. �I mean, the Pope scores goals, you know? The Pope scores goals for us... The people are just eating this stuff up.� Flash back a few years to the reign of Pope Benedict XVI: The Catholic Church was awash in scandal. In 2006, Benedict gave his now infamous �Regensburg lecture�, in which he quoted a brutal critique of Islam and irked Muslims the world over. Three years later, he left many aghast with his decision to�reverse�the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop. In 2010, the Church was slammed with a new wave of paedophilia allegations � and then the�Vatican Bank controversy, and then �Vatilieaks�. Added to all that, the people didn�t seem to take much to Pope Benedict. �Benedict doesn�t smile,� a young Italian woman working at a tourist shop by St Peter�s Square�told me�earlier this year. �He is too much German!� In June 2012, the Vatican poached Greg Burke � then a Rome-based reporter for Fox News. Burke�s job would be to manage �communications issues� and to integrate the Vatican�s many media organs,�explained�a Vatican official. Burke himself�said�he was hired �to formulate the message and try to make sure everyone remains on message�. �I know what journalists are looking for and what they need,� Burke�told�reporters, �and I know how things will play out in the media.� Old Vatican hands were optimistic. �Everyone thinks the Vatican is like the NSA or the CIA or something,��David Gibson, a reporter at Religion News Service, and an acquaintance of Burke�s, told me recently. �They think it�s an efficient, well-run place. But basically it�s an Italian village [with] all these little fiefdoms... It�s a very sclerotic, tradition-bound system that barely qualifies as a system. I think someone like Greg can help.� [Burke declined my request for interview � which I faxed (yes, really) to the Holy See last month: �I can�t do the interview, as my job is primarily behind the scenes, and I am trying to keep it that way.�] Greg Burke�grew up�in St Louis, Missouri as a �meat and potatoes Catholic�: the son of a paediatrician and the middle child of six. Church was within walking distance of Burke�s house, and a big part of his upbringing. Entering St Louis University High School where �the Jesuit influence was very strong�, Burke thought he might be destined for the priesthood; �but I didn�t feel the pull�. After college, Burke studied at Columbia University�s prestigious Graduate School of Journalism. Later, he covered the police beat for a small newspaper in Port Chester, New York, and then worked as a weather reporter in Chicago. In 1988, he moved to Rome and started writing forNational Catholic Register.�That led to a stint at�TIME Magazine, and then a decade of on-air work for Fox. Burke covered the Vatican � but also travelled on assignment through Europe and the Middle East. As a reporter, Burke revealed a shrewd understanding of papal politics � though he sometimes missed the mark. Shortly before then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger was selected as pope (he became Pope Benedict XVI), Burke�reasoned�that Ratzinger wasn�t even a candidate. �He�s considered too conservative,� Burke explained, noting that Ratzinger was called �the �Panzer Cardinal� because he took so many hits for the pope�. Today, even though he is one of the Vatican�s most public faces, Burke retains his all-American vibe. He is also active�on Twitter:
And he�s good with one-liners. �I actually thought I�d leave Fox [to] go work for a football club,� hetold�an auditorium full of reporters this year. �Ended up in the Vatican. No free tickets to football matches � but really good seats at Christmas and Easter.� [Pause for laughter.] This jockish humour covers Burke�s deeply-rooted faith. As an 18-year-old, Burke�joined�the controversial Opus Dei movement � and later became an Opus Dei �numerary�: taking a vow of celibacy and singledom and eventually moving into an Opus Dei spiritual centre. Opus Dei numeraries traditionally have normal jobs, as Burke did, but give a great chunk of income to the organisation. �Am I being hired because I�m in Opus Dei,� Burke mused, in 2012. �It might come into play.� Indeed,�Opus Dei�is said to be gaining influence in the Vatican. Non-Catholics perhaps know it best from Dan Brown�s bestselling�Da Vinci Code, in which the movement is depicted as shadowy and nefarious. But the real organisation was controversially founded in the 1920s: to push the idea that everyone (not just the priesthood) is called to holiness and can �find God in daily life�. It took several decades for the group to gain approval from the Catholic Church, but Opus Dei now is now an official Catholic �prelature�, and boasts about 90,000 members. �Opus Dei is great at communications,� Religion News Service�s David Gibson explains, pointing out that Pope John Paul II�s longtime spokesman was also of Opus Dei. �They did a great job during the�Da Vinci Code�thing.� Things have been slowly changing since Burke was put at the PR helm. The Holy See Press Office is said to be more open. It now puts out English-language newsletters for journalists � and makes spokespeople more available for media comment. Burke�dreams�of a Vatican with a United Nations-like structure, whose website lists �a spokesperson on every continent with cellphone numbers in case you need an interview and free video footage� � though, as it stands, the Holy See Press Office often�closes�at 3PM. The Vatican has also inched its way towards a digital media strategy. Pope Benedict first began tweeting�(@Pontifex) a few months after Burke�s hiring. �He will tweet what he wants to tweet,� Burke said, when the account was launched. But �the Pope is not going to be walking around with a Blackberry or an iPad�. For the Vatican, this modern turn has been a long time coming. As early as 2002, the Pontifical Council for Social Communication�began�producing reports on how to use the Internet according to Catholic tradition. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholics to�enter�the �digital continent� � and launched a�Vatican YouTube channel. A year later, at the US bishops� Fall General Assembly, Bishop Ronald Herzog of Louisiana instructed his colleagues in the use of new media. �He started by proving that New Media is a powerful force, not a fad,��wrote�one Cardinal of the presentation. Not long ago, Pope Francis gave his first English-language address � in which heproclaimed�that �Jesus be known in the world of politics, business, arts, science technology and social media.� Under Burke�s tutelage, the Vatican has also gone on the PR offensive: hawking positive news bites instead of waiting to do disaster control. In recent months, Burke has mastered the ability to combine doctrine with Buzzfeed-like spin. Last month, his �10 things to know� about Pope Francis made the popular media rounds. Pope Francis� picture �should have one of those warning labels�, Burke enthused. �Danger: This man could change your life.� As with the best of spin-doctors, it�s hard to tell just how much of this is the man himself (the �Francis Effect�) and how much is public relations. �I would not call Pope Francis a great communicator,� Burke has�mused. �I consider that slightly pejorative... I�d call him a great Christian.�
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