Leo XIV: What will his communication be like?

The appointment of Montse Alvarado as prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communications is an appointment that explains much about how Leo XIV intends to manage the Roman Curia and his understanding of its offices.

It also offers a glimpse, perhaps, into a possible further reform of the Roman Curia.

Until now, Leo XIV has made rather institutional Curia appointments, choosing profiles with little media exposure, but functional and hardworking, all of whom were, moreover, drawn from the conservative world.

Certainly, the small reform on the suspension of religious superiors in dioceses seemed to strengthen the power of the only woman prefect, Sister Simona Brambilla. However, the retention of a woman in a prefect’s role, along with that of Sister Raffaella Petrini as president of the Vatican governorate, seemed an exception within a Roman Curia firmly in the hands of men.

Montse Alvarado’s appointment, therefore, seems to break the mold, or at least the mold we’ve grown accustomed to under Leo XIV. And yet, it’s only a surprising appointment up to a point.

Cloaked in typically American pragmatism, Leo XIV seemingly views the Vatican communications department not so much as a Curia body, but rather as a sort of “media relations,” a sort of interface between the Pope and the world. He met with the outgoing prefect, Paolo Ruffini, only once, but without developing a true communications strategy with him.

In Ruffini’s place, Leo XIV appointed a prominent figure in the American Catholic media landscape, until now Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News, the news branch of Mother Angelica’s television station, which during the pontificate of Pope Francis was considered by the pontiff himself to be a “work of the devil.”

The point, however, was simple: the Pope brought an experienced manager to the Vatican, and at the same time extended a hand to the American conservative world, with all its donors, borrowing crucial experience to try to make the Vatican communications machine work.

The profile is not that of a journalist, but that of a manager who spent three years at the head of the largest Catholic media company in the world, and who therefore not only brings specific experience, but also brings to the pontificate the weight of millions of faithful who gather every day on EWTN.

This is a masterstroke by Leo XIV, demonstrating that he views Vatican communications as an asset, and does not intend to turn it into a liability, with all that this entails. And, likely, further reform of the communications department is being considered, at least regarding the distribution of offices.

In attempting to consolidate everything, the Dicastery for Communication found itself managing a monster that encompasses all Vatican media outlets, the publishing house, but also the Holy See Press Office and the Vatican Publishing House, as well as the Printing House and the Photographic Service.

This makes the communications dicastery the body with the biggest budget in the Roman Curia.

In a possible reorganization, the printing house, the Vatican Publishing House, and the Photographic Service would be included in the Governorate’s budget, under the heading of “commercial services.”

The Dicastery for Communication would resume its pastoral role, and media management could be handled more managerially, with autonomy that would also allow for specific donations.

The Holy See Press Office could also soon have a new director, and at that point it will be clear whether the Pope wants to place the Press Office directly under the Secretariat of State, with improved coordination of communications, or maintain the communications reform as it stands.

These are the major issues Alvarado will have to contend with, inheriting an organization suffering from a sudden and, in some cases, imposed bureaucratization.

Vatican communications, in fact, has always functioned not by virtue of its organization, but by the coordination between the men who headed the various dicasteries (sometimes combining multiple positions, like Father Federico Lombardi, at one time director of the Holy See Press Office, Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Television Center) and by a non-bureaucratic, yet well-structured, information system faithful to the institution.

Leo XIV also demonstrates, however, that he gives each dicastery a different specific weight. Indeed, the reform of the Curia still needs to be refined, and who knows whether Leo XIV’s approach will become the norm for other dicasteries that don’t necessarily require an archbishop or cardinal at their head, because they don’t need to be in collegiality with the Pope.

This decision by the Pope demonstrates, however, that it is very difficult to define situations within the Vatican by polarizing opinions. Until now, EWTN had been portrayed as the anti-Papacy channel due to some critical comments on Francis’s pontificate in the midst a whole bunch of operation mostly dedicated to devotion, news from the Catholic world, Catholic life.

Yet, the quality of its agencies’ reporting, as well as its TV broadcasts and the work of its affiliates, has always maintained a healthy balance and strict journalistic standards, which Alvarado supported and fostered during her time as COO at EWTN.

Today, this balance is widely recognized by sectors of the “Catholic left” who, while acknowledging an intellectual honesty despite the diversity of views, did not hesitate in the past to attack EWTN for certain positions, sometimes simply not accepting the criticism.

The author of this column must admit, however, that there is a bias in this communication, having been a contributor to EWTN for 13 years, and has nevertheless been able to express himself freely on all topics, without sparing critical views, but also without censorship.

The narrative shift was favored by Leo XIV, himself a Pope who proved allergic to polarization, while one of Alvarado’s sponsors is said to have been Cardinal Michael Czerny, who in fact entrusted EWTN with the production of the promotional video for the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. And Czerny certainly cannot be seen as a champion of the anti-Pope Francis world.

If nothing else, Leo XIV demonstrated with this decision that the time for polarization in the Church is over.

In this way, too, the Pope is working for the unity of the Church. While reports focus on the need to make Vatican communications effective—sometimes underestimating the number of professionals working in Vatican media—Alvarado’s appointment says much more.

It says that the time for ideological conflict is over, that the Pope wants effective communication and will perhaps further reform the Curia to separate public relations, commerce, and government, and that even the Roman Curia must now be understood in a new way.