About me

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @maria_mcalabro

I worked as a professional journalist from 1985 to 2015 at the "Il Corriere della Sera" (the most influential and circulating newspaper in Italy), Correspondence Rome office. First woman hired in that office.

I have published thousands of articles on the main topics of Italian politics, institutional reforms, mafia trials, security and the Vatican. I won a Saint Vincent Prize for Journalism in 2001. Over the years, I have specialized in investigating and trans borders journalism.

I’ am currently a senior contributor to the Huffpost.it covering in particular the Vatican , Pope Francis, immigration, intelligence and security issues and an accredited journalist to the Holy See Press Office  (Please check: https://www.huffingtonpost.it/author/maria-antonietta-calabra/)

My website is: www.justout.org. My last book (co-author Giuseppe Fioroni past president of the Italian Parliamentary Commission on the kidnapping and murder of Italian politician Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades) was published on October 31th 2019 by LINDAU.

I was initially hired by Corriere della Sera after scoring for the weekly "Il Sabato” the first interview in the world with the Turkish terrorist Alì Agca, who had attempted to murder then Pope Saint John Paul II. That interview was sold to and translated in many foreign newspapers.

Due to my in-depth knowledge of transnational Mafia, I worked on the research for two books by the American journalist, Claire Sterling: "Octopus" and "A World of Thieves". In 1991, I published "The Hands of The Mafia”, a book about the bankruptcy investigation into Banco Ambrosiano (the old private Catholic bank in Milan), and the death of its Chairman Roberto Calvi (The God’s Banker), who was hanged under the Blackfriars Bridge in London. This book led to the reopening of the criminal investigation into the murder (no more a suicide) of the banker by the Chief Prosecutor of Rome.

In 1993, I published "In The Front Line" (Sperling and Kupfer) with ten, long, biographical interviews with the most important Italian magistrates of that time Giancarlo Caselli, Chief Prosecutor of Palermo; Francesco Saverio Borrelli, then head of the Milan prosecutor's office during the "Clean Hands” investigation, and others).

I was the spokesperson for the President of the Italian Senate, Marcello Pera, from 2001 to 2006, the years of the international crisis that followed the terrorist attack against The Twin Towers in NYC.

I handled the media in Italy and the United States for the launch of "Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam” (Random House), written by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and President Pera about the crisis of European culture (November 2004), a few months before his election to the papacy as Benedict XVI.

Going back to "Il Corriere della Sera" , I scored some journalistic hits, such as the anticipation of the Encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" (July 2009); the first interview with Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the newly appointed President of the IOR (September 2009); the publication of the Report of Cardinal Versaldi on the Legionaries of Christ (May 2010), (this Report led to the commissioner of the Legion, then ruled by the serial pedophile Fr. Marcial Maciel); the publication of the Memorandum of No Confidence from the board of the IOR explaining the reasons for the dismissal of Gotti Tedeschi (May 2012).

In September 2012, I co-authored "The Vatican Secrets", about the case of the theft of secret papers of Benedict XVI (Vatileaks 1), an instant book published by "Il Corriere della Sera" on the occasion of the beginning of the Vatican trial against the butler Paolo Gabriele.I was in the team for the coverage of the Conclave that elected Pope Francis.

August 30, 2013 I announced the appointment of the new Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin.

In March 2014, I published an update of "The Hands of The Mafia" (Chiarelettere) with the unveiling of the "mixed accounts" of the IOR with Italian banks, whose existence was the basis of raisings of money laundering charges against the so-called Vatican bank (the main Vatican financial scandal), and which led to the tax treaty between Italy and the Holy See, for the transparency of the IOR (April 1, 2015).

In June 2016, I contributed to a book published by "Il Corriere della Sera" on the "New Families" (on same-sex marriage, gender, and Religions).

Married and mother of three.