Jovel Álvarez

Jovel Álvarez is a Rome-based correspondent who reports for various Spanish-language outlets. Originally from Costa Rica, he spent years living and working in the Holy Land.

Latest by Jovel Álvarez

Vatican

Reporter's notebook: Pope Leo's surprising conquest of France

Jovel Álvarez|Oct 5, 2026|5 Min Read

Pope Leo XIV feeds fish at a pond in the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 5, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Vatican

With return to Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo makes the case for a summer slowdown

Jovel Álvarez|Aug 28, 2026|4 Min Read

Fireworks explode during the inauguration of the Tower of Jesus Christ at the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia during Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey in Barcelona, Spain, June 10, 2026. (OSV News/Nacho Doce, Reuters)

World

Did Pope Leo’s visit just reawaken Spanish Catholicism?

Jovel Álvarez|Jun 16, 2026|5 Min Read

Smoke rises after Israeli strikes in Lebanon, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Marjayoun, Lebanon, March 5, 2026. (OSV News/Karamallah Daher, Reuters)

World

A reporter’s view in Lebanon finds Christianity in the US-Israel-Iran conflict

Jovel Álvarez|Mar 24, 2026|6 Min Read

A woman draped in a Venezuelan flag prays at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Rome Jan. 4, 2026, following a U.S. strike on Venezuela where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured the previous day. (OSV News photo/Matteo Minnella, Reuters)

World

What’s behind the Vatican’s shifting approach to Venezuela?

Jovel Álvarez|Feb 9, 2026|5 Min Read

Pope Leo XIV listens to a question posed by Gian Guido Vecchi, a reporter for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, during his flight from Lebanon to Rome Dec. 2, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

World

English, Spanish, or Italian? How Pope Leo is developing his own ‘language’

Jovel Álvarez|Dec 17, 2025|7 Min Read