Pope names first lay woman to head Vatican department

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) named a Mexico-born news executive to head up the Vatican’s powerful communications department — the first lay woman to hold a post in the Roman Curia.

Maria Montserrat Alvarado, currently president of the Catholic media outlet EWTN News, will take up her post on November 1, the Vatican said in a statement. She was born in Mexico City and studied in the United States.

Vatican News said the appointment was “continuing the path of reform and renewal initiated by Pope Francis”, Pope Leo’s predecessor.

“Alvarado is the first non-religious woman to be appointed prefect of a dicastery of the Holy See,” the Vatican news service report said.

The Dicastery for Communication oversees the Vatican’s vast print, radio and television services, which broadcast to a global audience.

It also runs the Vatican press office. In the months before he died on April 21 last year, Francis named two nuns to key Vatican positions and criticised a “chauvinistic mentality” within the Catholic Church.

Sister Raffaella Petrini became president of the governorate of the Vatican City state, and Sister Simona Brambilla was named head of the Vatican department overseeing the world’s Catholic religious orders and congregations.