My Story

I started work as a journalist 15 years ago on British newspapers, first as a freelancer for The Mail on Sunday and then at the Daily Telegraph, where I worked as a reporter on the diary column, the equivalent of the New York Post's Page Six. It was at the Telegraph that I cut my teeth as a junior journalist being tasked with reporting short stories on politics, culture and the royal family.

This was a job where I had to interview, often on a daily basis, high-profile individuals and on one occasion I was on the telephone with Sir Bob Geldof, the Irish singer turned third world aid campaigner. "Christopher," he said during our brief conversation, "Go and find your true journalistic vocation." Despite the frenetic pace of my story getting journalism, it made me pause and reflect. Reflecting on vocation was something taught to me by the Benedictine monks of Worth, in West Sussex, where I had been at school.

After studying Theology at university, I'd developed a deep interest in religious affairs, so in 2009 I left the Telegraph for The Tablet, an international Catholic publication. For six years I worked in London building my expertise and reporting on major papal events such as Benedict XVI's visit to London in 2010 and was sent to Rome for the conclave that elected Pope Francis in 2013.

Since 2015, I have been The Tablet's Vatican correspondent, filing regular reports and analysis on Francis' dramatic pontificate. I have traveled with the Pope on his visits to Kenya, Uganda, Central African Republic, Egypt, Myanmar and Bangladesh while also covering his trips to the United States, Poland and Sweden.

More recently I have developed my film and video journalism including weekly Facebook lives from Rome and working as a consultant to a major documentary on the Vatican commissioned by one of the world's biggest broadcasters.

I appear regularly on the BBC with TV and radio appearances while also producing my own material for programmes such as "From Our Own Correspondent." ABC news (Australia), Al-Jazeera and Associated Press also call on me for analysis of Vatican news.

Along with The Tablet, I write regularly for La Stampa's "Vatican Insider" website and Religion News Service in the United States, and my written journalism has also appeared in The Sunday Times and the Sydney Morning Herald.

My focus is not simply, however, on the Catholic Church and I am developing my knowledge of Islam and the impact of inter-religious dialogue. Through my trips to Egypt and Bangladesh I have witnessed the diversity within the Muslim world, while also witnessing the perils of religiously motivated violence.

If there is one thing that is fueling extremism and the so-called clash of civilizations, it is ignorance. I passionately believe that informed and balanced reporting on religion has never been more important in understanding our world today.

From the conflicts in the Middle East to debates about religious freedom, faith has a major role in global discourse on the challenges facing humanity. It is also the major world faiths - in many cases globalized and interconnected networks - that are making significant contributions to tackling the refugee crisis, the scourge of human trafficking and climate change.

I have been exposed to all of this at the Vatican, a major religious centre for international affairs, and hope that through my journalism I can highlight the powerful impact of faith on the world and its conflicts, while better explaining the internal dynamics of religion.

My Story

Curriculum Vitae

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