An American PR executive in the Vatican’s court

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jun 02, 2026

Although I didn’t expect to see an American Pontiff in my lifetime, Leo XIV has settled in at the apostolic palace, and the initial surprise is wearing off.

Now brace yourself for another shock. In November an American will be taking control of the stodgy Vatican communications operation.

Actually Maria Montserrat Alvarado was born in Mexico City. But she is now a US citizen, and her professional background—first at the Becket Fund, more recently at EWTN—has been formed in the US. At Becket she learned, and demonstrated, how to run an effective public-relations campaign to influence public opinion. As president of EWTN News, she presided over an international media organization that is, frankly, more impressive than the one she will oversee in Rome.

She will not be the first American to play a prominent role in Vatican communications. My friend Greg Burke had a stint as director of the Vatican press office, from 2016-2018. But Burke was frustrated by a lack of access. Since he was not included in policy discussions, he rarely had an opportunity to suggest how a Vatican announcement might best be framed. Worse, he was sometimes expected to explain a decision that had not been explained to him. His successor, Matteo Bruni, has been criticized for frequently declining to comment on new developments. That’s one way to handle the problem, but it’s not an effective communications strategy.

In any case, Alvarado will take a higher place on the Vatican’s organizational chart; she will be Bruni’s boss. Her responsibilities will also include supervising L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Radio, the Vatican News service, and the other Vatican media offices.

Her appointment is an unmistakable sign that Pope Leo wants a change. Paolo Ruffini, who has been prefect of the Dicastery for Communication since it was established by Pope Francis in 2018, had given indications that he hoped to remain at that post. (To his credit, Ruffini issued a statement welcoming Alvarado, and noting that he was approaching the age of 70, “the age set for retirement”.) Morale is not high in the Vatican communications offices, nor is it high among the reporters who cover the Holy See. Today’s announcement has raised expectations the entire operation will be given a new sense of priority.

The announcement raised some eyebrows for a different reason. Pope Francis was clearly stung by criticism that was aired on EWTN. So although Alvarado herself is not known for controversial opinions, the appointment of a representative from EWTN indicated that Leo is not Francis, and the network is no longer in the papal doghouse. Moreover it seems significant that the American Pope is adding an American media executive to his team.

But—and this is a very important “but”—Maria Montserrat Alvarado by herself cannot bring Vatican communications strategy into the 21st century unless she can overcome powerful resistance from within the Roman Curia. Remember that when the late Cardinal George Pell was brought in to rationalize the Vatican’s financial accounts, he met a wall of opposition. The new communications boss is likely to face the same problem.

For reasons both good and bad, the Catholic Church has a strong bias toward confidentiality, and Vatican prelates tend to parcel out information on a need-to-know basis—with a strong presumption that the faithful do not need to know anything about internal church affairs. Too often, as a result, the press office and other Vatican offices have been caught playing catch-up on developing stories, limiting the damage, rousing reporters’ suspicions that some information is still being held back.

Effective public-relations executives want to put the story out before the news breaks, framing the issues so that they set the terms of the discussion. Whether the Vatican can adapt to that approach, overcoming the habits of centuries, remains to be seen.

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But could this be just a small hint that change is already underway? The Vatican announced that a Brazilian bishop’s resignation has been accepted. The Vatican gave no details, but Bishop José Moreira da Silva was 72—three years short of retirement age. From Brazil, a spokesman for the episcopal conference said that after a “lengthy evaluation process” involving a visitation from Rome, “it was determined that Bishop José’s resignation would be the best decision for the diocese and for the bishop himself.” So we don’t know (and probably don’t need to know) why the bishop resigned. But we know that his resignation was sought (or demanded) by the Vatican, not prompted by ill health.