NYU Alum Makes Vatican Press Office History

In a new law announced on Saturday, Pope Francis essentially reversed a 2014 law that had transferred the main operational section of the patrimony office to the cardinal’s Secretariat for the Economy.

His position as deputy Vatican spokesman will be filled by Spanish journalist Paloma García Ovejero, the first woman to ever serve in the role.

During the reorganization of Vatican offices under Pope Benedict XVI, Father Lombardi was appointed general director of the radio in 2005 and head of the Vatican press office in 2006, while continuing to lead CTV.

Greg Burke, a native of St. Louis and the current vice-director, succeeds the Italian Jesuit while Spanish journalist Paloma Garcia Ovejero will step in to Burke’s current role as vice-director, making her the first female to hold that position.

“At a time when some see Pope Francis as a liberal stacking the deck with like-minded progressives, this appointment runs counter to the stereotypes”, Allen wrote.

Prior to his appointment to the press office’s number two position in December 2015, Burke was Fox News’ Rome correspondent for 15 years before he was called to the Holy See Secretariat of State in 2012 as communications advisor.

He said Burke was “long known to us in the United States as a devoted man of the church and an unparalleled communicator”.

Pope John Paul II’s longtime spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, was also a member of Opus Dei, the organization portrayed in Dan Brown’s bestselling potboiler “The Da Vinci Code” as being at the root of an global Catholic conspiracy.

“I’m the first woman: okay”, she said. “The first woman above all in the church, in the Vatican and in the press office is the Virgin Mary”. Not to invent, not do it (beautifully): “just, what he says, what he wants to say, what he wants the world to know”.

After his studies in NY, he worked for United Press International of Chicago and Reuters news agency as well as Metropolitan, a weekly magazine, and later was sent to Rome as a correspondent for the National Catholic Register. He graduated in 1983 from New York’s Colombia University with a degree in comparative literature, with a specialisation in journalism.

Burke, who is also a member of Opus Dei, has written for a range of publications, including Reuters and the National Catholic Register.

Born Aug. 12, 1975 in Madrid, Ovejero received a degree in journalism from Complutense University of Madrid in 1998, followed by a masters in Basque studies in 2001.

Between Burke and Ovejero, the director and vice-director are fluent in Italian, Spanish, French, English, and Chinese.

Both Burke and Ovejero’s appointments take effect August 1.