Maria Montserrat Alvarado, a 39-year-old Mexican-American media executive, has taken up her role as the new head of the Vatican’s communications department this week, becoming the first laywoman to lead a Vatican “ministry.”
Alvarado, who goes by “Montse,” will also be the first non-Italian to oversee the Dicastery for Communication, which manages the Holy See’s television, radio, print outlets, press office, and related operations.
Pope Leo XIV appointed her in June to succeed Paolo Ruffini, the first layperson to head a dicastery, who was named by the late Pope Francis in 2018. Alvarado previously served as president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, the news arm of the U.S.-based Eternal Word Television Network.
The appointment came as a surprise to Alvarado herself. “I didn’t apply, I wasn’t chosen” through a standard process, she said in an interview with EWTN News. She described it as “an appointment from the Holy Father.”
Born in Mexico, Alvarado moved to the United States as a child, grew up in Miami, and later studied in Washington. She spent 14 years at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty before joining EWTN, where she managed content across multiple languages and platforms. She has said her original ambition was marriage and family; she was previously married, and the Church later annulled the union.
Analysts view the choice as a signal of Pope Leo’s approach to women in leadership. Lucetta Scaraffia, founder of the Vatican’s women’s magazine Women Church World, told AFP that Alvarado was selected for her skills and professional achievements. As a non-Italian, she is expected to bring a more international perspective. Scaraffia noted that previous senior female appointments often involved nuns valued for obedience rather than professional merit.
EWTN has historically leaned conservative and at times criticized Pope Francis, a tension Alvarado navigated during her time there. Her appointment continues a trend of expanding women’s roles in Vatican governance begun under Francis and advanced by Leo.
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