University of Oxford
Miles Pattenden
Historian of Catholicism
Anglo-Australian historian specialising in the history of the papacy, global Catholicism, and the relationship between religion, politics and society.
About
Miles Pattenden is a historian at the University of Oxford, where he teaches Modern History at St Peter’s College. His research encompasses the history of the papacy and Catholicism, religion and politics, sexuality and gender, and modern uses and representations of the medieval past.
He is also Programme Director of the Europaeum, a network of leading European universities promoting academic collaboration and engagement about the major questions facing contemporary Europe.
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.
International media
His analysis and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Times, The Guardian, BBC, Associated Press, NBC and France 24, among others.
Central European media
Miles has contributed expert analysis to media across Central Europe, including direct interviews with Czech and Slovak news organisations, as well as wider coverage in Poland, Hungary and the Balkans.
Wider regional coverage
Miles’s commentary on the papacy and the 2025 conclave has also appeared in Hungarian media and in Al Jazeera Balkans, including analysis of papal candidates, the possibility of an African pope and the international character of the modern Catholic Church.
Topics for interviews
- Pope Leo XIV and the legacy of Pope Francis
- The history of the papacy and papal conclaves
- Catholicism, politics and national identity
- Religion, politics and society in contemporary Europe
- Sexuality, gender and the Catholic Church
- Medievalism and modern political uses of the Middle Ages
Available for interviews
Available for television, radio, print and podcast interviews in English with media in Czechia, Hungary and Poland.
Available for both breaking-news commentary and longer-form historical analysis.