University of Oxford
Catholicism and Africa
The papacy, the Vatican and the changing global Church
Miles Pattenden is an Anglo-Australian historian at the University of Oxford specialising in the history of the papacy and Catholicism, with particular interests in papal elections, the globalisation of the Catholic Church and the changing relationship between Rome and Catholic communities around the world.
About
Miles teaches Modern History at St Peter’s College, Oxford. His research examines the history and institutions of the papacy, the College of Cardinals and conclaves, as well as the relationship between the Vatican, politics and the wider world.
He is co-editor of The Cambridge History of the Papacy (Cambridge University Press, 2025) and author of Electing the Pope in Early Modern Italy (Oxford University Press, 2017). His next book, White Smoke: A History of the Papacy Through Conclaves, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2027.
Catholicism and Africa
Miles comments on the changing place of Africa within global Catholicism and what the growth of the Church across the continent means for Rome, the papacy and the wider Catholic world.
His expertise includes the internationalisation of the College of Cardinals, the significance of African cardinals in papal elections, the history and symbolism of papal visits, and the ways in which recent popes have responded to the changing geographical balance of the Catholic Church.
Commentary on Africa
Media in Africa
Miles’s analysis of the papacy and the changing global Catholic Church has also reached national media audiences across Africa through international reporting.
Topics for interviews
- Africa’s growing role in the global Catholic Church
- African cardinals and papal elections
- Papal visits to Africa and their historical significance
- The Vatican and the changing balance of global Catholicism
- Catholicism in religiously diverse societies
- The papacy and interreligious dialogue
Available for interviews
Available for television, radio, print and podcast interviews in English with media across Africa.
Available for breaking-news commentary on the Vatican and papacy, as well as longer-form historical analysis of the Catholic Church and its changing global role.