PR Lessons From the Pope
- jessie545
- Jul 25
- 3 min read
You usually won’t be the main story, but you can be a side angle.
What can the leader of the Holy Roman Catholic Church teach us about PR and a solid pitching strategy? Quite a bit, actually. With the election of the first American pope came a parade of news articles, videos, and interviews, each promising us a different insight into the man who now shepherds 1.4 billion souls for the Catholic Church.
I’d like to take this opportunity to pull back the newsroom curtain, give you a deeper understanding of how the news works, and empower you to use this information to pitch yourself more effectively in the future.
Be part of the ripple
What happens when you throw a stone into a pond? It creates ripples. Now, imagine the stone as a story. When a story breaks, each ripple represents a different way it can be told. Journalists want to be as close to the center as possible, where the impact is strongest. By connecting with the source, they can find different angles and bring fresh perspectives to a story that captivates the audience.
When it comes to gaining meaningful PR placements for yourself or your organization, what many people fail to realize is that most of the time, you will not be the main story—you’re not the stone dropped in the water.
But a good PR pitching strategy is knowing how to make yourself part of the ripples in the pond. That is the key to great pitching and consistently landing meaningful media placements month after month, year after year. You are not the story, but publicists tell newsrooms that you are a connection to the story worth exploring. Let’s take a look at the recent election of Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Robert Prevost of Illinois, for some perfect examples of connections that the media chose to highlight.
The students of Our Lady Mount Carmel Academy held a mock conclave leading up to Pope Leo’s election, with cardinal robes and all.
Regular guy-ism
Danielle Lindemann, author of True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us, and several other thought leaders offered their expertise in an article diving deep into Americans’ fascination with a term coined “regular guy-ism.”
And because the Pope is just a “regular guy,” one ripple of the story focused on where he cut grass as a college student for extra cash, while another highlighted his politically outspoken brother.
Still, the other ripples emphasize his kindness, friendship, and the role he has played in people’s lives over the years. Heather and Jaroch shared with People how Pope Leo, then Father Bob, flew from Peru to officiate their wedding as a favor to Heather’s father, a longtime friend.
I often share that it’s incredibly important to be prepared to connect your expertise or organization to trending topics, and producers, in general, tend to view you as a broad-ranging expert in your field. These are both powerful pitching tools that you can use to your advantage.
For example, it can be a challenge to get a personal trainer featured on the news, but when you’ve been working with the newly elected Pope, that’s a ripple that people will surely want to hear about.
As you can see from these examples, whether you’re a local Catholic school, a published author, or even a personal trainer, you can always find your ripple that connects you to the story.
