39-year-old U.S. executive to lead Vatican media ministry

Maria Montserrat Alvarado takes over the Vatican's communications ministry this week, becoming the first laywoman to lead the department. The 39-year-old U.S. media executive will oversee all television, radio, and print operations for the Holy See, a role that has traditionally been held by Italian clergy.

Alvarado, who goes by the name Montse, is also the first non-Italian to hold the post. Her appointment was announced in June but has only now taken effect. The Vatican department she leads manages the press office and produces content in multiple languages for a global audience.

The selection process was not a standard public recruitment. Alvarado said in an interview with EWTN News that she did not apply for the job. She described the move as an appointment directly from Pope Leo XIV, who called it a choice made by the Holy Father.

Alvarado has served as president and chief operating officer of EWTN News since 2023. The network is the largest Catholic television station in the United States and was founded by a nun. It has often aligned with conservative Catholic voices, particularly in the U.S. during the papacy of Pope Francis.

Tensions between the network and the Vatican flared in 2021 when Pope Francis criticized a major Catholic television channel for constantly criticizing the pope. He called such criticism the work of the devil, noting that while he personally might deserve insults as a sinner, the Church did not. Alvarado was a presenter on EWTN at the time.

Alvarado was born in Mexico and moved to the United States as a child. She grew up in Miami and later moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue her studies. Before joining EWTN, she spent 14 years at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm that defends religious freedom rights.

In her role at EWTN, she managed international media platforms that produced content in seven languages across television, print, radio, digital media, and social networks. She told EWTN that she did not originally plan a career in media, stating her great ambition had always been to get married and have children. She is now divorced, and her marriage has been annulled by the Church.

Alvarado succeeds Paolo Ruffini, a 70-year-old who was appointed by Pope Francis in 2018. Ruffini was the first layperson to lead a dicastery, the Vatican term for a ministry. Analysts view Alvarado's appointment as a shift in how Pope Leo XIV views women in senior Church roles.

Lucetta Scaraffia, founder of the Vatican's women's magazine Women Church World and a professor of history at Rome's La Sapienza University, told AFP that Alvarado was chosen for her skills and qualities. Scaraffia noted that previous women in important positions were often highly obedient nuns who were not always selected for their merits.

Scaraffia added that Alvarado's background gives her a different way of dealing with things and a much more international outlook. The appointment signals that the pope has a different attitude toward women compared to his predecessors.