Joshua J. McElwee

I am an accomplished Vatican correspondent, seasoned editor and recognized news leader with a hard-won global reputation for excellence. I have 15 years' experience in reporting, editing, leading news teams, audio production, and social media content creation. 

I am currently the Vatican correspondent for the global Reuters news agency. I was previously the news editor and Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, the world's premier independent Catholic newspaper.

My dispatches from Rome and during papal trips abroad are frequently cited by my peers, and broadly seen as a touchstone for nuanced Vatican and papal coverage. 

Among my most noted work has been my years-long, tenacious coverage of Pope Francis' clergy abuse commission, which through a series of exclusive interviews with ex-members of the group revealed serious shortcomings to its work.

I was also the first journalist to break the news of Pope Francis' promise during a private meeting with an international group of sisters and nuns in 2016 to create a commission to study the history of the ordination of women as deacons in the Catholic Church. My coverage of that event led the Vatican to confirm the pope's remarks, and create an official study commission.

I am the co-editor, alongside Cindy Wooden, of A Pope Francis Lexicon, a collection of 54 essays exploring the unique words Pope Francis has used in his ministry.

I have reported on-the-ground from 39 countries across Europe, northern Africa, and Latin America, and have traveled abroad with Pope Francis in the official Vatican press pool 24 times.