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Vatican Names Montse Alvarado as New Communications Prefect
Confirmed
In Short: Montse Alvarado, a communications veteran, begins her new role as prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication on Nov. 1.
Montse Alvarado, a seasoned communications professional, is set to begin her new role as prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication on Nov. 1, 2023. Alvarado, who has worked for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty since 2009, expressed her excitement and gratitude for the opportunity in recent interviews.
Alvarado's journey to this position began in 2021 when she transitioned to Catholic media, hosting the weekly news show “EWTN News In Depth.” She was named president and COO of EWTN News in 2023, a role she will leave to take on her new responsibilities.
In her interviews, Alvarado emphasized the importance of her faith and her commitment to the Church. She described her new role as a 'great adventure' and a 'privilege and honor.' She noted that her decision to accept the position required significant prayer and reflection.
Alvarado's appointment comes as part of Pope Leo XIV's broader reform of the Roman Curia, which consolidated the Vatican's various media offices into a single department dedicated to the Church's mission of evangelization through modern communications.
As prefect, 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.
Alvarado acknowledged that some have suggested that seeing the inner workings of the Church might challenge her faith, but she expressed excitement at the prospect of confirming her faith through this experience.
She emphasized that her role is to serve the Church and the Holy Father, and that her job is to execute the vision given to her by the Holy Father.
Alvarado's background in religious freedom advocacy and her experience in Catholic media make her a strong candidate for this role, as she believes the Church is in a moment where digital and traditional communications are converging.
In her final interview with EWTN, Alvarado reflected on her journey and expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to serve the Church in this new capacity.
What this adds
Alvarado's transition to the Vatican marks a significant shift in her career, moving from her role at EWTN to a leadership position within the Holy See's communications network.
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.
- In 2021, she began a professional transition to Catholic media, becoming the host of the weekly news show “EWTN News In Depth” while still working for the Becket Fund.
- 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.
- “My entire life has been a surrender to Jesus Christ and his Church in the hopes that others would have a relationship with him,” she said.
- 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.
- “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.
- 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.
What's still developing
- 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.
- “All of those pieces, leaving everything behind. They’re big to overcome,” she said.
- “A lot of people say something that I find very silly,” she told Flynn.
- “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.