"Nowadays, one has to speak of a media papacy, as media charisma plays a central role for Catholic church leaders," writes Ernesti in an article for "Herder Korrespondenz" (December issue).
In the 17th and 18th centuries, cardinals from different church political camps were often only able to agree on an old and sickly pope in the hope that the cards would be reshuffled at a conclave soon to be held.
"Electing an older or sickly pope without strong media appeal, on the other hand, is no longer an option these days," writes the church historian.
Over the past century and a half, the Vatican media landscape has been continuously expanded.
For example, all relevant papal documents are freely accessible on the Vatican website. "No other religious community offers a comparable service," says Ernesti.
This line could be extended to Pope Francis, who has streamlined the entire Vatican media sector as part of his reform of the curia and placed the newly created communications dicastery on an equal footing with the other curia authorities.
"This is not an accidental, but a consistently pursued and thoroughly intended development."
"There is an extremely fine line between this and the cult of personality"
As an example of the increased visibility of the papacy through its media presence, Ernesti points out that students of theology today often cannot think of a single name of a pope from the 17th or 18th century.
"This era did not produce any popes who have left their mark on the collective memory of Catholic Christianity, apart perhaps from great papal patrons such as Urban VIII, Innocent X or Alexander VII and their contribution to Roman Baroque art."
However, the church historian also sees negative sides to the strong media presence of the popes.
In modern times, there is a "not harmless focus on the person of the respective official", warns Ernesti. "There is an extremely fine line between this and the cult of personality."
Due to the high expectations, there is also a considerable height of fall. This was the downfall of Pius XII and Paul VI, for example.
In addition, since 1800, the emphasis has shifted from the office of pope to the charisma of the respective office holder.
"Whereas previously the person was honoured as the bearer of the papal office, now a pope is honoured primarily for his personal charisma," writes Ernesti.
In the past two centuries, the Catholic Church has thus become more than ever the papal church.