The Vatican announced today that Pope Leo XIV has appointed Maria Montserrat Alvarado, a Mexican-American lay woman, as head of Vatican communications. At the time of her appointment, she was president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, the biggest Catholic and religious broadcaster in the world. 

The Vatican broke the news at midday on June 2 and said she will take up her new position on Nov. 1. She replaces the Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, who has held the role since July 2018.

This decision, which came as a surprise to many at the Vatican, is significant in several ways. By appointing a lay woman as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication—the first woman ever to hold that position—Pope Leo continues the process initiated by Pope Francis with “Praedicate Evangelium,” his apostolic constitution for the reform of the Roman Curia, that opened senior Vatican posts to lay people.

Second, he has chosen as prefect of Vatican communications a lay woman with top-level professional skills and experience in bringing the news to a worldwide audience. When she took over as president of EWTN in January 2023, the U.S.-based network was the largest Catholic media organization in the world, with 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels, broadcasting daily in multiple languages to over 400 million households in more than 160 countries and territories. Its platforms also include radio services transmitted through SiriusXM, iHeartRadio and over 600 domestic and international radio affiliates. EWTN also operates a worldwide shortwave radio service and is one of the most visited Catholic websites in the United States.

Third, by appointing a Mexican-American Catholic lay woman, he is recognizing both the Hispanic (around 36 percent) and the English-speaking (around 54 percent) dimensions of the 73-million-member U.S. Catholic Church today.

Asked by America for a comment on this appointment, Paloma García Ovejero, a Spanish journalist and the first woman to serve as vice director of the Holy See press office (2016-18),  who knows Ms. Alvarado, popularly known as Montse, said:

Montse is a hurricane, a force of nature, but above all she’s a woman of faith and a true media expert. If there’s a woman who can serve the church’s communications with talent and generosity, that’s her. Free, intelligent and independent: ready to be a Cirineo [Simon of Cyrene] for Pope Leo. I couldn’t be happier for the church.

The appointment has the potential to raise questions because of Ms. Alvarado’s association with EWTN, a network that Pope Francis had strongly criticized because a small but influential sector of its TV program frequently attacked him during his 12-year papacy.

Informed sources who did not wish to be identified told me they believe the American pope’s decision was “a smart move,” as it has the potential to influence the global network and create a new opportunity for it to reimagine its responsibility and communicate his message to a worldwide audience. Indeed, it is known that since 2023, Ms. Alvarado has worked hard to get this important network to overcome its contradictory positions toward the Vatican.

Maria Montserrat Alvarado was born in Mexico City. She earned an undergraduate degree from Florida International University in political management and a master’s degree from George Washington University in political science, according to a report in EWTN when she was appointed its president and chief operating officer.

From 2009 to 2023, the Vatican said, she held leadership positions at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Since 2023, she has been president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, the news division of the Eternal Word Television Network, where she oversees international media platforms that produce content in seven languages across television, print, radio, digital media and social media.

When Ms. Alvarado was appointed to her current positions, the network’s C.E.O. and chairman, Michael Warsaw, said, “Her background in organizational management, understanding of the Church, and experience in the public square are key elements that make her ideal for this role.” 

EWTN reported then that “Alvarado serves the church in various roles with leading apostolates dedicated to the new evangelization, from the defense of free speech to the role of women and the treatment of marginalized communities in society.”

According to news reports, she also served on the advisory council to the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, the GIVEN Institute and the Catholic Information Center, among others. 

The Vatican Dicastery for Communication was established by Pope Francis in 2015 as part of his reform of the Roman Curia. The dicastery oversees the Holy See’s communications outlets, including the Holy See Press Office, Vatican News, Vatican Radio, L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Media, the Vatican publishing house, the Vatican printing press and the Filmoteca Vaticana.

Ms. Alvarado will take over as prefect from the Italian Paolo Ruffini, who turns 70 in October. In 2018, Pope Francis appointed him as the first lay man to be prefect of a dicastery of the Roman Curia.

In a statement released following the announcement and carried by Vatican Media, Ms. Alvarado said:

While this appointment was unexpected, I receive it with a sincere desire to serve the Holy Father as he begins his pontificate. And I am grateful to Paolo Ruffini for his leadership throughout the last years and look forward to continuing, in friendship and hope, the important work of strengthening the dicastery so it may continue to serve the Church in Rome and everywhere to communicate Christ to the world.

Mr. Ruffini sent a letter to the staff of the Dicastery for Communication that stated the following: 

The Dicastery has embedded in its very DNA the duty to remain constantly attuned to the rapidly changing world of communication. From the moment we were born as an institution, our guiding star has been and remains this: never to stop, to pass the baton while continuing to run, to be present in the here and now, in this very hour, as the touchstone of a communication that is the instrument of a communion that grows over time.

Mr. Ruffini added that as he now entered his final lap in the race, “I will pass the baton to Montserrat Alvarado…. We know each other well. And in the coming months, we will work closely together, in the spirit of communion that unites us in the Church.” He concluded: “We are beginning now the process over the coming months for a smooth transition in order to help the Dicastery continue to grow in service to the Holy Father and in its mission of serving in a spirit of unity and openness.”

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.