Between event and memory: discourses about Pope Francis in large circulation magazine covers

This work carries out an analysis of the discourses about Pope Francis on the cover of large circulation magazines, both national and from abroad. Specifically we discuss if the choice of the new Pope may be considered as an event in the terms defined by the French tradition of discourse analysis. The concepts of event and memory are used here side by side, because the event has a relation with the memory. We argument that the meaning effects created about the new Pope is related to its characterization as an event. We also discuss that the media constructs and transforms this event into a spectacle. Other concepts like interpretation, pedagogical discourse and populism are also discussed.