Xavier Rynne was the pseudonym of Fr. Francis X. Murphy, C.SS.R. who provided The New Yorker with an insider's view of the Second Vatican Council at a time when the Council's deliberations were supposed to be secret. While he kept his identity under wraps for decades, it was widely known that Murphy had contributed the articles because of his position with the American delegation and because his middle name, Xavier, and his mother's maiden name, Rynne, formed the pseudonym.
Biography
Born in the Irish Bronx to immigrants, Murphy became a priest in 1940 and began teaching at the Vatican's Lateran University in 1959. After his time in Rome, he returned to America, becoming a professor at Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University. He retired to St. Mary's, Annapolis, in 1985, where his Parkinson's Disease advanced, eventually restricting his freedom. He died there on April 11, 2002.
Another Xavier
Many suspect that the New Yorker articles were not written solely by Francis X. Murphy. Former Time correspondent Robert Blair Kaiser reported that while much of the information was gathered by Murphy, it was New Yorker editor John Chapin who gave the articles their distinctive style.
Quotes
- "Any journalist incapable of cracking a Vatican secret after diligently reading the Italian press, scrutinizing l'Osservatore Romano, and attending an embassy reception or two, should change his profession."—Francis X. Murphy
- "It was clear that, on a technicality, he Francis X. Murphy wasn't the New Yorker's Xavier Rynne, not all of Rynne. Later I found some samples of Murphy's own prose style. It lacked the knowing sophistication of the New Yorker. In fact, it didn't even come close. Obviously, he had a collaborator who could write, which meant that Xavier Rynne was a composite creature."—Robert Blair Kaiser
