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Alvarado Begins Vatican Communications Role Nov. 1
· Confirmed
In Short: Montse Alvarado begins her new role as prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication on Nov. 1, overseeing the Holy See’s media and communication efforts, including Vatican News, Vatican Media, Vatican Radio, and other communications entities.
Montse Alvarado begins her new role as prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication on Nov. 1, overseeing the Holy See’s media and communication efforts, including Vatican News, Vatican Media, Vatican Radio, and other communications entities.
Alvarado, who called the appointment a 'privilege and honor,' said she was chosen for the position because 'we are in a moment where digital communications and traditional communications are coming together.'
She previously served as president and COO of EWTN News, leading its global and multilingual news operations across television, radio, print, digital, and social media platforms.
Alvarado's journey to this role began in 2009 when she started working for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based nonprofit law firm that defends religious freedom cases, rising to vice president and executive director in 2017.
In her new role, Alvarado will work closely with Pope Leo XIV, who personally reached out to her about the position.
Alvarado expressed excitement about the opportunity to see the 'humanity of the Church,' which she believes will affirm her faith.
She acknowledged that the role required her to move to Rome and learn a new language, but she offered a resounding yes for the Church.
Alvarado holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida International University and a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University.
She emphasized that her job is to serve the Church and the dicasteries, not to impose a vision but to receive and execute it.
Alvarado reflected on her transition to Catholic media in 2021, when she became the host of the weekly news show 'EWTN News In Depth,' while still working for the Becket Fund.
She called the interview with Colm Flynn on 'EWTN News in Depth' a 'bittersweet goodbye to my EWTN family.'
Alvarado’s entire life has been a surrender to Jesus Christ and his Church, with the hope that others would have a relationship with him.
What this adds
Alvarado's appointment as prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication was confirmed by multiple outlets, including OSV News and America Magazine.
Background
Montse Alvarado begins her new role as prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication on Nov. 1.
What's confirmed
- (OSV News) — The Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication’s incoming prefect called her new role “a privilege and honor” and “a great adventure” just days before it was to begin Nov. 1.
- She began working in communications for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based nonprofit law firm that defends religious freedom cases, in 2009, rising to vice president and executive director in 2017.
- Under Pope Francis, the Holy See’s various communications arms were united in 2015 in the newly founded Secretariat for Communication, which was renamed the Dicastery for Communication in 2018 with Paolo Ruffini, a layman and a journalist, named as prefect.
- She was named president and COO of EWTN News in 2023.
- Now she is preparing to begin, on Nov. 1, another challenging new role, one that is taking her to the Eternal City as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication.
- Pope Leo XIV with Maria Montserrat Alvarado at the Vatican on May 12, 2025.
- “Communicating Christ to the world is the mandate of the communications dicastery, and it will be done in concert with the Holy Father … Weʼre getting to know what this is, what it should be, what the desire of his heart is, and what the Holy Spirit has really given him as the mandate for his pontificate,” she added.
- Acknowledging that with an attitude of “anything for the Church” she would offer “a resounding yes,” the role also required her to move to a new country and learn a new language.
- A native of Mexico City living in Washington before moving to Rome, Alvarado holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida International University and a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University.
- As prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Alvarado will oversee the Holy See’s media and communication efforts, including Vatican News, Vatican Media, Vatican Radio, L’Osservatore Romano newspaper, the Holy See Press Office, and the Vatican’s publishing house (LEV), internet service, printing press, photography service and film library.
- Pope Leo “reached out” personally “and it’s very special,” she said, but she declined to elaborate further about how she was asked to consider the role.
- “A lot of people say something that I find very silly,” she told Flynn.
What's still developing
- The Dicastery for Communication was established by Pope Francis in 2015 as part of his broader reform of the Roman Curia, consolidating the Vatican’s various media offices into a single department dedicated to the Church’s mission of evangelization through modern communications.
- “The fact that God could use me as an instrument for something so great is incredibly humbling.” In an interview with Colm Flynn on the TV program “EWTN News in Depth,” Alvarado reflected on her communications experience, personal vocation and how she expects to approach leadership of the dicastery.
- She said that she expects coming to understand the inner workings of the Vatican to confirm, rather than rattle her faith, as some have suggested.
- Born in Mexico City, Alvarado came to the United States as a young girl.
- Before joining EWTN, she spent 14 years at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she also rose to a position of leadership and worked extensively on issues related to religious freedom and human dignity.
- After ending her time at Becket, she recalled “thinking about the importance of religious freedom and the Constitution and the American Dream and I said, ‘Well, whatʼs it all for if not for heaven?’” “I looked at EWTN and Mother Angelica and she spoke to my heart. That desperate desire for people to go to heaven … and so coming in here and having an environment where I was only talking about Jesus every day and only trying to communicate him to the world was a great honor for me and my spiritual life, but also seemed like a very logical thing to do when I thought about it from a calling and spiritual perspective,” she explained.
- “Those were the moments where I had that opportunity to kind of get to know the inner workings, but I didn’t apply. I wasn’t chosen,” she said.
- “Those are the kind of stories that I’d love to just keep in my heart,” she told Flynn.