Pope Leo names Mexican-American media executive first laywoman to lead Vatican communications
- Maria Montserrat Alvarado has taken charge of the Vatican's communications department.
- She is the first laywoman and first non-Italian to head the office, which runs Vatican media.
- Her appointment, announced in June, took effect as she assumed office on November 1.
A Mexican-American media executive has become the first laywoman to run a major Vatican department, taking charge of the Holy See's television, radio, print and press operations.
Maria Montserrat Alvarado, who uses the name "Montse", assumed office as Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication on Sunday, November 1. The appointment was first announced in June by Pope Leo XIV.
The dicastery is the Vatican's equivalent of a ministry. It oversees Vatican News, Vatican Radio, the Holy See Press Office, the newspaper L'Osservatore Romano and Vatican Media.
Sources give her age as 39 or 40. She is also the first person from outside Italy to lead the department. Until now, the women who held senior Vatican roles were mostly nuns, and observers say her selection points to a different approach from Pope Leo.
From Miami to the Vatican
Born in Mexico, Alvarado moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Miami before heading to Washington for her studies. She spent 14 years at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit law firm that defends religious freedom.
Since 2023 she has been president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, the news arm of the Eternal Word Television Network, the largest Catholic television network in the US. There she ran platforms producing content in seven languages across television, print, radio, digital and social media.
She told EWTN in an interview that the job came as a surprise. "I didn't apply; I wasn't chosen" through the usual process, she said, describing it as "an appointment from the Holy Father".
EWTN has not always seen eye to eye with Rome. Some of its programmes were known for criticising Pope Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, and in 2021 Francis appeared to single out a major Catholic television channel that he said was constantly criticising the pope. Alvarado was a presenter there at the time.
She takes over from Paolo Ruffini, 70, who was appointed by Pope Francis in 2018 and was the first layperson to head a dicastery.
Lucetta Scaraffia, founder of the Vatican women's magazine Women Church World and a history professor at Rome's La Sapienza University, said Alvarado was picked for her ability. "This is a woman who has been chosen for her skills and her qualities," she told AFP.
Scaraffia added that as the first non-Italian in the post, Alvarado will bring a more international outlook, and that the choice suggests the pope sees women's leadership differently from his predecessors.
Alvarado's appointment follows other moves to bring women into senior Vatican roles. In January 2025, Pope Francis named Sister Simona Brambilla as the first woman to head a dicastery, and Pope Leo appointed Sister Alessandra Smerilli to lead another department in June 2026.
What happens next
Alvarado now settles into the job of coordinating the Vatican's many media outlets, including its press office, at a time when the Church is trying to reach Catholics worldwide across television, radio and online platforms.
