Matthew Robert Ralph d'Ancona[2] (born 27 January 1968[3]) is an English journalist and editor-at-large of The New European.

[5] D'Ancona's father was a Maltese tennis champion of Italian descent who moved to England to study and played youth football for Newcastle United[6] before becoming a civil servant.

D'Ancona was educated at St Dunstan's College, an independent school for boys in Catford in south London.

After a year studying medieval confession, d'Ancona joined the magazine Index on Censorship, before proceeding to The Times as a trainee.

While not himself a believer,[8] d'Ancona is also the co-author of two books on early Christian theology, The Jesus Papyrus [9] and The Quest for the True Cross.