The powerful US Catholic media network founded 40 years ago by Mother Angelica became an uncritical champion of Donald Trump. With Trump no longer in the White House, and with his support amongst Catholics wavering, EWTN faces some difficult choices about its future direction
It is the largest religious media organisation in the world. The Eternal Word Television Network, known as EWTN, was founded by Mother Angelica, a charismatic Poor Clare nun, in 1981. She established what is now a Catholic media conglomerate from scratch, with its headquarters in the unlikely setting of Birmingham, Alabama, the heart of the evangelical bible belt of the United States. “Remember to keep us between your gas and electric bill,” was how she would sign off her show.
Today, EWTN reaches 310 million television households in more than 145 countries across the world, and according to the latest filed accounts reported an annual income of $64,646,744. Along with a TV station, the conglomerate has more than 500 radio affiliates, a book-publishing unit, and the Catholic News Agency, based in Denver, Colorado. In 2011 it acquired the National Catholic Register, a newspaper and website, from the Legionaries of Christ.
Some worry that EWTN has drifted too far from its original ideal of faithfully witnessing to Catholic teaching across its media platforms. In recent years, EWTN has become increasingly partisan in its politics. It has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, combining this with hostility to the pontificate of Pope Francis. As I wrote in my book The Outsider, the network is “Fox News under Catholic cover”. Others have renamed it the “Eternally With Trump Network”.