Pope Leo XIV has appointed Maria Montserrat Alvarado as Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, effective 1 November 2026, according to Vatican News.
For the past three years, Alvarado has served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News, the news division of the Eternal Word Television Network. EWTN is the world’s largest religious media network, streaming Roman Catholic content 24/7 to nearly half a billion people in over 160 countries.
Bigger things are in store for her, however, as she’ll be joining the Pope’s team and will be overseeing his “communications systems, including Vatican News, Vatican Radio, L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Media (photo, audio & video services), the Holy See Press Office, the Vatican publishing house, the Vatican Printing press, and the Filmoteca Vaticana.”
During a discussion with Simone Rizkallah of the Philos Project, however, she rejected the concept of “supersessionism,” which she explains is the notion that “Christianity nullifies the Jewish faith.”
“Rather than [Jews] being our brothers and sisters and us being hand-in-hand walking towards salvation, and them being the chosen people, there’s this idea that all Jews should become Christians, which obviously is wrong.”
