March 30, 2012. (Romereports.com) Besides being the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, the city of Rome is also home to many other religious communities. This group of journalism students from the Columbia University traveled to Rome to see just how diverse faith was in the Eternal City.
Each of them was assigned to cover a different aspect of the religious groups in the Italian capital.
Trinna Leong
Student, Columbia University
“This year we're here in Italy covering different religions from the Catholic Church, to the Methodists, the Waldensians, to Islam and also the Sikhs.”
Raya Jalabi
Student, Columbia University
“I am looking into different immigrant communities in Rome, principally focusing on Senegalese immigrants because predominantly a lot of Senegalese people come from the Sufi sect called the Mourides”
During their visit, the students spoke to leaders from different faiths and traveled to important religious sites throughout Italy. In this meeting, they sat down with the American cardinal James Stafford who spoke to the journalists about covering religion.
Cardinal James Stafford
Major Emeritus of the Apostolic Penitentiary
“It is very important that the Church be reported in a truthful way that can be understood by the people, so yes I believe that it is very important that journalists to become better acquainted with the actuality of Church life”
The professor leading the group noted that although Rome has many different religions besides Catholicism, the words of the pope still carry some weight.
Ari Goldman
Professor of Journalism, Columbia University
“The person of the pope can speak in a way that really no other world leader can speak, in a moral way in a way to give people ethical guidance, even if you're not Catholic, you listen to the pope.”
The group is also blogging about their experiences in Italy as part of their group project. They can be followed at coveringreligion.org as they cross the Italian peninsula, always in search of their next story.
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