The speculation about the health of the 88 year old Pope has been raging for almost a week now. We’ve had reports that he wouldn’t last the night, followed by increasingly terse updates from the Vatican, including one on Sunday that “…The night was tranquil, the Pope rested…’.

From a press management perspective, the way in which the ailing health of the Pontiff has been handled has felt just a little unplanned. It’s seemed more like the speculation around a celebrity rumour than the normally polished way an announcement is made concerning a head of state. Contrast this with the days immediately before the death of Queen Elizabeth II. In that case, there were measured, accurate and informative updates in a timely way, which clearly pushed the narrative along. It was obvious that much planning had been put into the Queen’s final days and how the press interest would be managed.

But the Pope is nearly 90, why doesn’t there appear to have been the same level of preparation? Why does there seem to be a vacuum forming which is allowing every kind of speculation and theory to grow?

I suspect the answer is two-fold. First, the Pope is primarily a religious figure, a head of state second. With the British Monarchy, it is always more of a balance.

This means the team working for the Royal Family is more accustomed to the hurly burly of 24 hour news, with all the scrutiny and speculation inherent in that. For example, Buckingham Palace’ press team has a far more detailed and dynamic dedicated media centre, with more information and links to their range of social media channels.

Second, there is a degree of continuity and experience within Buckingham Palace which, a cursory glance at the Vatican website, shows is not necessarily reflected in their press team.

On 27 June 2015, the Pope established the Secretariat for Communication with the Press Office incorporated into it, while at the same time remaining a part of the Secretariat of State. Blurred lines of reporting are always tricky when it comes to managing the press and moving at pace in the 24-hour media.

In addition, the first Director of the secretariat lasted just over two years, his replacement, 202 days, while HIS replacement has now done 5 years. None of these people or structures have led on the change of Pope before, with the last retirement of a Pope coming in 2013 and the last Pope to die in office being way back in 2005.

Although no one in Buckingham Palace had seen a change of Monarch either, they had dealt with the deaths of several senior members of the family and other key events. They also planned, meticulously.

This sense of experience and confidence is vital in press management as is a clearly planned strategy for a foreseeable big event (returning to the example of Queen Elizabeth). Without this you will grab the narrative at the start but then lose it almost immediately and struggle to recapture it from then on.

The situation is a good object lesson for every business and organisation about making announcements. As Jim Hacker says in ‘Yes Prime Minister’:

“...If you have nothing to say, say nothing. Better still have something to say, and say it no matter what they ask. Pay no attention to the question, just make your own statement…”

Although Hacker is fictional, his advice is still pretty sound and applies equally to handling important announcments as it does giving interviews.

We wish Pope Francis a very speedy and full recovery, but if his health does continue to deteriorate, the press office will find itself being forced to field more and more complex and obscure questions.

The press have now had time to come up with loads of tricky ones about what comes next, whether the appointment will be political and to what extent a hypothetical next Pope will support or oppose President Trump.

A better planned press strategy would have allowed the Vatican to maintain control of the narrative and tell the story as they would want. As it is, they are now playing catch-up.

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