St. Peter's Square, just outside Vatican City.

The Vatican Internship Experience for Villanova's Communication Students

Since 2004, Villanova’s Communication Department has developed a relationship with the Vatican in Rome to allow students to live and take courses in Rome while interning in Vatican offices.

In addition, The Communication Department was chosen by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications help organize a conference to study the identity and mission of communication faculty at Catholic universities across the globe. Faculty members from all over the world took part in this important conference in Rome from May 22 to May 24, 2008. Communication Department chair Dr. Bryan Crable was one of the featured speakers at this historic event.

Professor Paul Wilson, Assistant Professor and Digital Media Coordinator (along with Dr. Frank Klassner of Computing Sciences), heads a project to create virtual reality tours of the five basilicas in Rome. Communication students will be a crucial part of this historic undertaking.

Students participating in The Vatican Experience reside in a four-star hotel in the center of Rome. Classrooms and the Vatican are an easy walk from the residence.

Communication students are selected to take part in one of three programs as a part of The Vatican Experience.

• Students who intern at The Internet Office come from the department’s media production specialization. These students work to develop The Vatican’s presence on the web under the direction of the web site’s director.
• Students who intern with the Pontifical Council for Social Communication come from the department’s public relations specialization. They intern with The Pontifical Council for Social Communications and work in media relations.
• Communication students in the journalism specialization are eligible to take part in an internship with Catholic News Service. This organization, while not a part of the Vatican per se, was established by the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference to report on the role of the Church in the world. It is the oldest and largest news service reporting on religion in the world.

Villanova Communication Department students are the only students in the world to be offered the opportunity to intern at the Internet Office of the Holy See, The pontifical Council for Social Communications, and Catholic News Service.

Contact the coordinator of The Vatican Experience for more information:

John O’Leary, Ph.D.
Communication Department
Villanova University
800 Lancaster Avenue
Villanova, PA 19085
Telephone: 610.519.4454
john.oleary@villanova.edu