Who is Maria Montserrat Alvarado, the first laywoman to be appointed to top Vatican post?

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Mexican-American media executive Maria Montserrat Alvarado to head the Vatican’s communications department, making history as the first non-religious woman to serve as prefect of a dicastery of the Holy See.

The appointment on Tuesday marks another significant step in the Vatican’s gradual effort to expand leadership opportunities for lay people and women within the Roman Curia.

Alvarado, who currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News, will assume her new responsibilities on November 1 later this year, succeeding Paolo Ruffini, who is retiring after leading the communications office since 2018.

Her selection places one of the most influential Catholic media executives in charge of the Vatican’s vast communications network, which oversees news, broadcasting, publishing, and public relations operations serving Catholics around the world.

More from Explainers

Pope Leo’s AI warning: Is humanity building a modern Tower of Babel?

AI for humanity: The shared vision of PM Modi and Pope Leo XIV

Who is Maria Montserrat Alvarado?

Born in Mexico City, Alvarado later became a United States citizen in 2008 and built a career spanning media, public policy, and religious freedom advocacy.

She studied at Florida International University and George Washington University before joining the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she spent more than a decade in leadership roles.

Between 2009 and 2023, she worked on initiatives focused on religious freedom and human dignity, helping shape the organisation's public engagement efforts.

Alvarado later joined EWTN as a news anchor and rose through the ranks to become President and Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News in 2023.

In that role, she oversaw a global media operation producing content in seven languages across television, radio, digital platforms, print publications, and social media.

EWTN describes itself as the world's largest Catholic media organisation, with a network that includes television stations, radio services, publishing operations, and news agencies such as the Catholic News Agency, National Catholic Register, and ACI Group.

Following the Vatican's announcement, Alvarado said, “While this appointment was unexpected, I receive it with a sincere desire to serve the Holy Father as he begins his pontificate. And I am grateful to Paolo Ruffini for his leadership throughout the last years and look forward to continuing, in friendship and hope, the important work of strengthening the dicastery so it may continue to serve the Church in Rome and everywhere to communicate Christ to the world.”

Why is her appointment historic?

Although women have increasingly occupied senior Vatican positions in recent years, Alvarado's appointment breaks new ground because she is the first laywoman — meaning a woman who is not a member of a religious order — to lead a Vatican dicastery.

The move reflects reforms launched by the late Pope Francis, who spent much of his 12-year papacy increasing the presence of women in Vatican governance.

During his final months in office, Francis elevated several women to influential positions, including nuns Raffaella Petrini and Simona Brambilla, while also speaking out against what he described as a "chauvinistic mentality" within the Church.

Alvarado's appointment suggests Pope Leo XIV intends to continue that broader reform agenda.

The Chicago-born pontiff, elected in May 2025 as the first American pope, has repeatedly indicated that he wants the Church to rethink how it communicates with Catholics and the wider world.

As part of that effort, he has called cardinals to the Vatican later this month for discussions aimed at improving the Church's communications strategy.

In a letter announcing the meeting, Leo wrote, “Even when the church finds herself in a minority, she is called to live with confident courage, as a small flock bringing hope to all, mindful that the aim of mission is not its own survival, but the communication of the love with which God loves the world.”

What does the Vatican communications department do?

Alvarado will lead the Dicastery for Communication, one of the Vatican's largest and most influential departments.

Created by Pope Francis in 2015 as part of a wider restructuring of the Roman Curia, the dicastery brought together the Holy See's various media and communications operations under a single structure.

Today, it supervises Vatican News, Vatican Radio, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Vatican Media's photo, video and audio services, the Holy See Press Office, the Vatican publishing house, the Vatican printing press, and the Filmoteca Vaticana.

Beyond managing daily media operations, the dicastery is also responsible for developing the theological and pastoral dimensions of the Church's communications mission.

The office enjoys one of the largest budgets among Vatican departments and plays a central role in shaping how the Holy See presents its message globally.

EWTN's influence and relationship with Pope Francis

Alvarado arrives at the Vatican after helping lead EWTN News, part of the Eternal Word Television Network founded by Mother Angelica in 1981.

Over four decades, EWTN expanded from a single television network into a global Catholic media empire that includes broadcasting, publishing, radio, and digital operations. The organisation has often been associated with conservative Catholic audiences in the United States.

During Pope Francis' pontificate, some EWTN programming featured commentators critical of aspects of his leadership.

Francis publicly expressed frustration with such criticism on multiple occasions, including remarks in 2021 in which he described certain media attacks as "the work of the devil" — comments widely interpreted as referring to EWTN.

He also accused the network of "bad-mouthing" him.

Despite those tensions, Alvarado's appointment signals the Vatican's willingness to draw talent from across the Catholic media landscape as Pope Leo seeks to modernise and strengthen the Church's global communications efforts.

Transition from Paolo Ruffini

Alvarado will take over from Paolo Ruffini, who made history himself when Pope Francis appointed him in 2018 as the first layperson to lead a Vatican dicastery.

Announcing the transition, Ruffini praised the department's work and outlined plans for a smooth handover, reported Vatican News.

He wrote, “The Dicastery has embedded in its very DNA the duty to remain constantly attuned to the rapidly changing world of communication. From the moment we were born as an institution, our guiding star has been and remains this: never to stop, to pass the baton while continuing to run, to be present in the here and now, in this very hour, as the touchstone of a communication that is the instrument of a communion that grows over time. I have entered the final lap of the race, before the moment when — in the long journey that is our working life — having reached the age of 70, the age set for retirement, I will pass the baton to Montserrat Alvarado as the next prefect. We know each other well. And in the coming months, we will work closely together, in the spirit of communion that unites us in the Church”.

He added, “I am grateful to the big family of Dicastery – he added - for the journey we have taken together over these eight years. We are beginning now the process over the coming months for a smooth transition in order to help the Dicastery continue to grow in service to the Holy Father and in its mission of serving in a spirit of unity and openness.”

Meanwhile, EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael P Warsaw praised Alvarado's leadership, saying she had earned “the trust and respect of everyone privileged to work alongside her” during her years at the network.

With her appointment, Maria Montserrat Alvarado becomes one of the most influential women in the global Catholic Church, taking charge of the Vatican's communications apparatus at a time when Pope Leo XIV is seeking to reshape how the Holy See engages with audiences around the world.

Also Watch:

With inputs from agencies