Crisis management in the Catholic Church: The challenges of institutional communication

Abstract

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, scandals such as cases of sexual abuse by priests in Ireland, the USA and Australia, Vatileaks, or issues linked to the lack of financial transparency, brought to the surface the need for professional crisis communication within the organisation of the Catholic Church. The author believes that operational departments in charge of communication at the organisational level of the Church must seek more effective ways of confronting crisis situations. By relying on contemporary crisis management concepts with an action–oriented perspective, ecclesiastic communicators must embrace the mindset of strategic thinking in order to dismiss prejudices about crises often inherent to Church leaders and must follow specific tactics so as to mitigate the crisis situation. Above all, truthfulness must be the conditio sine qua non of successful crisis management. This paper demonstrates that bishops need to adopt a culture based on accountability, but also to rethink times of crisis and transform them into an opportunity to communicate the Gospel.