By Helen Coster and Joseph Ax
NEW YORK (Reuters) – As cardinals gather in Rome this week to select the next pope, global news networks covering every twist and turn will be competing against a small but influential Catholic broadcaster based in the Alabama town of Irondale.
The Eternal Word Television Network was launched by a nun named Mother Angelica in the garage of the town’s Our Lady of the Angels monastery in 1981.
Since then, it has grown into a global media conglomerate with nearly a dozen TV stations, a book publishing division, a newspaper and radio affiliates. Along the way, it has emerged as a beacon for conservative Catholics and a potent voice in Trump-era politics — not to mention an occasional critic of the late Pope Francis, who complained about it “bad-mouthing” him.
The majority of EWTN programming deals with the Catholic ministry: broadcasting Mass, specials on saints, rosary prayers and talk shows centered on family, marriage and faith.
But it also airs a sizable dose of news and political content, with a particular appeal to conservatives: President Donald Trump has appeared on the network several times, one of the network’s top hosts is a Fox News contributor and another anchor just left EWTN for the Trump-friendly Newsmax.
“I think EWTN has a great deal of influence on certain portions of the Catholic population in the U.S.,” said James Martin, an American Jesuit priest, writer and editor-at-large of America, the Jesuit magazine. “Many Catholics, even if they may not agree with their commentary at times, find them to be the place where they turn for church news and events.”
Martin said it was hard to know if it would have any influence on the conclave, which starts on Wednesday when cardinals gather to choose a successor to Francis. Participants are sworn to secrecy about discussions and votes, which could last for several days.
“I’m sure some of the cardinals watch,” said Martin. “On the other hand, some of the cardinals, because of their cultural background, might be less inclined to listen because it’s an American media company. So perhaps it’s a wash.”
EWTN’s rise was mirrored in the United States by that of the evangelical right, as issues such as abortion and homosexuality became entwined with national politics during the culture wars of the Reagan era. Mother Angelica, the founder, who died in 2016, used her popular television show to criticize efforts to liberalize the church.
The network has proven adept at wedding “spiritual content and political news for conservative Catholics,” according to Michelle Nickerson, a historian at Loyola University Chicago, a Jesuit school.
“EWTN is part of a broader expansion of conservative Christian media,” she said.
Some of the network’s programming was critical of Francis, who denounced Trump’s mass deportation plans in February and broke from tradition by allowing priests to perform same-sex marriage blessings.
Francis took note of EWTN’s criticism, telling a network reporter and cameraman in 2021 that EWTN “should stop bad-mouthing me,” according to America, the Jesuit magazine.
Months later, addressing a gathering of Jesuits, he said, “There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope. I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the church does not deserve them.”
“They are the work of the devil,” he added.
Montse Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, said EWTN gave Francis a platform by broadcasting his words and letting him speak for himself – a reflection of the network’s love for him. She noted that Francis’ comment was made in 2021, but he later gave his blessing to a movie made by the network’s Irish unit.
“I doubt Pope Francis watched much TV,” Alvarado said, adding that EWTN includes a diversity of opinion. “We are proud of our wall-to-wall coverage of the Church and Pope Francis’s pontificate.”
She described EWTN in an interview as an “apostolate”, or having a mission from God. “Our mission is to defend the church, to share the teachings of the church with the world – and to use our talents to that end, to be a platform for other people who want to do the same,” Alvarado said.
READY FOR WHOEVER IS CHOSEN
From its headquarters in Irondale and broadcast studios in Washington, D.C. and Rome, EWTN operates 11 global TV channels 24 hours a day, as well as satellite and AM/FM radio affiliates, a book publishing division, the National Catholic Register newspaper and the Catholic News Agency, among other properties.
Since the last conclave in 2013, the non-profit EWTN, together with its three affiliates, has almost doubled its revenue — to roughly $100 million in the fiscal year ending in June 2023, according to its most recent tax filings. EWTN and its affiliates generate revenue from advertising, sales of books and religious items, and donations, including from Catholic groups such as the Knights of Columbus and private foundations.
Still, its audience is narrow compared with mainstream broadcasters.
EWTN’s U.S. cable audience swells during coverage of Easter Sunday Mass and other special events, but is relatively small on a day-to-day basis, reaching an average of 21,500 daily U.S. households in 2024. That’s about the same as five years earlier, according to Comscore data.
It draws additional viewers on its website, where visitors can stream content for free – roughly 174,000 average monthly unique viewers in 2024 – and reaches another 3.4 million subscribers and followers through its social media platforms.
Comscore said more than 40,000 U.S. households watched Francis’ funeral on EWTN’s cable channel, compared to more than 1 million on the ABC television network. An EWTN spokesperson said online streaming in English and Spanish combined had generated 30 million YouTube views since Francis’ death.
Alvarado said that the company is focused on growing its audience outside the United States, where cable TV is not facing such steep declines; investing in streaming; and growing a younger audience on social media. She added, however, that EWTN does not monitor ratings because of Mother Angelica’s insistence that they should work just as hard for one viewer as one million.
EWTN has been covering the papal transition with daily live broadcasts in English, Spanish and four other languages. On May 7, it will increase to twice-daily broadcasts on cable and on social media for what it is calling “chimney watch” — a nod to the smoke that will emerge from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel to signal whether a new pope has been selected. It is also producing more than 130 video packages about each of the cardinals.
“We’re ready whoever comes through that window, whoever is announced when the white smoke goes up, we want to share with the world who that person is,” Alvarado said. “Because ultimately, our fidelity is to the institution and whoever it is that’s leading the church.”
“That’s our leader, too. That’s our Papa,” she added, using the Italian word for Pope.
Alvarado declined to comment on who might be the next pope.
POLITICAL INFLUENCE
EWTN has a strong presence at the Vatican, where it has what is likely the largest Catholic newsroom in Rome, with dozens of print and TV journalists under the EWTN brand and the ACI brand. They publish in Italian, Spanish, and German, and there is a dedicated African news service.
Michael Warsaw, EWTN’s chief executive, is also one of 21 official “consultors” for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, which oversees all the Vatican’s media entities.
Closer to home, EWTN is part of the growing U.S. conservative media ecosystem that has gained newfound access to the White House under Trump.
Raymond Arroyo, the host of EWTN’s political show and the network’s most visible star, is a Fox News contributor who makes regular appearances on conservative commentator Laura Ingraham’s program.
Arroyo has conducted friendly interviews with several members of the Trump administration in recent weeks, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and his “World Over” show has featured a recurring segment with a panel of Francis skeptics that criticized the recent pontificate. He has been broadcasting from Rome since Francis’ death.
The White House did not answer questions about EWTN but said there was “no greater advocate for religious liberty and Christians” than Trump.
Trump, whose Truth Social account posted an AI-generated photo showing him as the pope over the weekend, has made a handful of appearances on EWTN, including a 2020 interview on EWTN News Nightly and an interview with Arroyo in October.
Alvarado said that Arroyo’s show represents just one hour a week out of 24-hour daily programming, and that EWTN has had Francis on the network much more than Arroyo.
In November, Catholics voted for Trump 59%-39%, a 12 percentage point swing from 2020 when Catholic Joe Biden beat Trump, according to exit polling by Edison Research.
EWTN’s content defies easy categorization, Alvarado said. Yet she acknowledges that EWTN is defined as conservative because of its stance on marriage and life.
“We’re pro the immigrant and the poor and social services, universal health care, all of these things that you would put in a bucket of progressives or liberals,” she said. “We also believe in supporting the family. We believe in taking care of life from the womb to the tomb – that would today be thrown in the conservative bucket.”
(Reporting by Helen Coster and Joseph Ax in New York. Additional reporting by Joshua McElwee in Vatican City and Steve Holland in Washington. Editing by Paul Thomasch and Claudia Parsons)
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