Verb-Noun Collocation Patterns in News Reports on the 2025 Papal Conclave: A Corpus-Based Study

This paper explores verb-noun collocation in international news coverage of the 2025 Papal Conclave. 20 online news articles were gathered from the media. A total of 438 verb-noun collocations were identified using AntConc version 3.5.9. The collocation patterns were analysed in terms of their frequency, syntactic structure, and discourse using a qualitative approach. The findings reveal that verb-noun collocations such as elected pope, pope said, and cardinals held were the most frequent. The findings also reveal that pre-election coverage emphasises suspense and secrecy while post-election coverage highlights institutional legitimacy, authority and continuity. Three main themes were also identified including “Papal Identity and Authority”, “Church Governance and Hierarchy” and “Ceremonial and Liturgical Roles”. The findings highlight that collocations are not just grammatical but ideological. The study demonstrates the reliability of corpus-based methods in revealing subtle ideologies in religious media discourse.