U.S. executive becoming first laywoman to head Vatican ministry

Maria Montserrat Alvarado, a 39-year-old U.S. media executive, becomes the new head of Vatican communications this week, the first laywoman to head a Vatican "ministry."The Mexican American will also be the first non-Italian to lead a vast department overseeing all of the Vatican's television, radio and print operations, as well as its press office. Analysts say the appointment of a professional woman to the key post signals that Pope Leo views women differently from his predecessors at the Vatican, where nuns have tended to be the women holding senior positions. Her appointment, announced in June, came as a surprise even to Alvarado. "I didn't apply, I wasn't chosen" through a standard application process, she said in a television interview with U.S. Catholic media outlet EWTN News, where she has served as president and chief operating officer since 2023. It was "an appointment from the Holy Father," U.S.-born Pope Leo XIV said of the new role for Alvarado, who uses the name "Montse." Pope Leo XIV meets with the prefect of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See, Maria Montserrat Alvarado, during an audience at the Apostolic Palace on August 4, 2026, in Vatican City. Simon...