Maria Montserrat \u201cMontse\u201d Alvarado speaks during the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 17, 2024. After three years as EWTN News\u2019 president and chief operating officer, Alvarado will become prefect of the Vatican\u2019s Dicastery for Communication Nov. 1. (OSV News photo\/Bob Roller)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAs prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Alvarado will oversee the Holy See\u2019s media and communication efforts, including Vatican News, Vatican Media, Vatican Radio, L\u2019Osservatore Romano newspaper, the Holy See Press Office, and the Vatican\u2019s publishing house (LEV), internet service, printing press, photography service and film library.<\/p>\n
Under Pope Francis, the Holy See\u2019s various communications arms were united in 2015 in the newly founded Secretariat for Communication, which was renamed the Dicastery for Communication in 2018 with Paolo Ruffini, a layman and a journalist, named as prefect. Alvarado is his immediate successor.<\/p>\n
She called the interview with Flynn, published online Oct. 23, \u201ca bittersweet goodbye to my EWTN family.\u201d<\/p>\n
How she came to be considered for the role<\/h3>\n
Asked how she came to be considered for the role by Pope Leo, Alvarado pointed to connections she made to cardinals through EWTN in preparation to host a live, video-based conversation with Pope Leo during the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis in November 2025, as well as her company\u2019s work with the Vatican ahead of the May publication of \u201cMagnifica Humanitas,\u201d the pope\u2019s first encyclical, which addressed artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose were the moments where I had that opportunity to kind of get to know the inner workings, but I didn\u2019t apply. I wasn\u2019t chosen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo \u201creached out\u201d personally \u201cand it\u2019s very special,\u201d she said, but she declined to elaborate further about how she was asked to consider the role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are the kind of stories that I\u2019d love to just keep in my heart,\u201d she told Flynn. \u201cBut it is an appointment from the Holy Father and one that is very humbling for many reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, she said she believed Pope Leo asked her to step into the prefect role because \u201cwe are in a moment where digital communications and traditional communications are coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that accepting the role \u201ctook a little more prayer than I would care to admit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acknowledging that with an attitude of \u201canything for the Church\u201d she would offer \u201ca resounding yes,\u201d the role also required her to move to a new country and learn a new language.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of those pieces, leaving everything behind. They\u2019re big to overcome,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a little more human than I would care to admit in my willingness to say yes. But I\u2019m very grateful for the opportunity. So, so grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that she expects coming to understand the inner workings of the Vatican to confirm, rather than rattle her faith, as some have suggested.<\/p>\n
To see the humanity of the Church is \u2018affirmation that Jesus Christ is real\u2019<\/h3>\n
\u201cA lot of people say something that I find very silly,\u201d she told Flynn. \u201cThey say that going into the Vatican, I have to be careful because I might lose my faith seeing the humanity of the Church. And I like to turn that on its head and say I\u2019m going to see the humanity of the Church, which for me has always been an affirmation that Jesus Christ is real and his Church is the true Church. Because in seeing the way things work, I actually find that it\u2019s miraculous.\u201d<\/p>\n
She plans to approach the position with a posture of listening and learning, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking the time to get to know the person in front of you, taking the time to get to know the kind of work, the intention, the desire that is behind something before executing and that listening period \u2014 not to use a word that everybody seems to hate \u2014 synodality, right?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cThe Church is actually a great listener, and Pope Leo<\/a> is a great listener. He\u2019s asked us to come into dialogue. And so, I am hard-charging, sure. I think that\u2019s a blessing and a curse at the same time. But over time, in my own process of maturity, I\u2019ve also learned that the best decisions are taken when you have the most context.\u201d<\/p>\nAlvarado noted that it was never her dream to achieve success in media, but she felt called to serve the Church in communications.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy great ambition has always been to get married and have children,\u201d she said. \u201cMy mother and my father have the most beautiful marriage and are the most wonderful parents, are my best friends. That\u2019s what the desire of my heart truly is. This was never in the plans for me. I studied music. I served at my church very lovingly. I considered possibly whether Our Lord was leading me into a (religious) vocation. \u2026 If you tell me like, oh, is this what you want to do? No, but it\u2019s what I\u2019m called to do. And those are two very different things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvarado: \u2018There\u2019s providence in everything\u2019<\/h3>\n
She credited her coworkers and mentors with her career trajectory, including EWTN\u2019s Mother Angelica, who \u201cspoke to my heart,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI walked out of Becket thinking about the importance of religious freedom and the Constitution and the American dream. And I said, well, what\u2019s it all for if not for heaven?\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so coming in here and having an environment where I was only talking about Jesus every day and only trying to communicate him to the world, was a great honor for me and my spiritual life, but also seemed like a very logical thing to do when I thought about it from a calling and spiritual perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flynn noted that Alvarado\u2019s appointment was distinguished by her young age and vocation as a lay woman who is not a consecrated religious. \u201cAnd I\u2019m annulled in the Church, too. So that\u2019s also bizarre,\u201d she responded.<\/p>\n
An annulment, or declaration of nullity, is received from a Church tribunal after it has determined that one\u2019s union was not a valid sacramental marriage. Alvarado has previously spoken publicly about experiencing what she described as \u201ca failed marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, \u201cI think more people have spoken to me about that than anything else,\u201d Alvarado said of the annulment process. \u201cTheir desire to pursue an annulment, to consider that reunification with the Church after divorce \u2014 not that you need it if you don\u2019t want to marry again, but if you do \u2014 there\u2019s a lot of confusion around that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s why I was chosen, but there\u2019s providence in everything, right? All of our mistakes and all of our flaws, our Lord uses everything for good.\u201d<\/p>\n
She acknowledged that her appointment has drawn some criticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blowback certainly was around, \u2018Oh, is she going to have an ideology because of this, or does her background tell you that?,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd for me, I\u2019ve always been in service of the Church, Church teaching, Church realities. There\u2019s no political affiliation that could ever be more important than my Catholic identity and the beliefs of the Church.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, there was tons of blowback because people who don\u2019t know me were making assumptions about who I am and what I believe,\u201d she continued. \u201cBut every Catholic that has read the Catechism and the Bible knows what I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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