“The go-to person for reporters and followers of the Catholic Church”

“The go-to person for reporters and followers of the Catholic Church” July 9, 2012

The Philadelphia Daily News has a brief profile this morning of the ubiquitous Rocco Palmo:

Rocco Palmo is only 29. The born-and-bred South Philly guy, thin at 5 feet 11 inches, is the go-to person for reporters and followers of the Catholic Church. The New York Times quoted him last month after the verdicts in the landmark Philadelphia church sex-abuse trial. So did the Washington Post. And CNN.

On Sunday afternoon, we’re sitting outside the Grindcore House coffee shop at 4th and Greenwich streets in South Philly. It’s vegan. He’s not. He’s drinking black coffee in a cappuccino-sized mug and a glass of ice water. He puffs away at his Djarum brand cigarettes.

He’s talkative. (He gets it from his mom.) Without prompting, encyclopedic knowledge about the Vatican and the Philadelphia Archdiocese flows out of him.

Palmo, Italian and Catholic, went to Masterman for middle and high schools, then studied political science at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 2004. Later that year, he started his blog, Whispers in the Loggia, now read worldwide.

The blog was a side thing, at first. He wanted to be a reporter at the Daily News, but the People Paper would soon have buyouts instead of job openings.

Over the past years, Palmo has built up sources in the Vatican and throughout the U.S. He often breaks news. He now sometimes gets 15,000 unique visitors a day to his site, or 20,000 hits a day. Earlier this year, he was made a member of Archbishop Charles Chaput’s lay advisory council.

As a full-time blogger, Palmo lives at home with his parents. He makes money through reader donations on his website.

Read more.


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