Vatican: who is Montse Alvarado, the laywoman chosen by Pope Leo as Prefect of Communication

Although she is not a lawyer, she has played a public and strategic role in the communication and management of judicial campaigns concerning some of the most sensitive dossiers in American Catholicism: the contraceptive mandate, the freedom of religious institutions to choose their leaders, the freedom of expression of religious groups, and the protection of pro-life centres.

During its 14 years of service to the Be-cket Fund, the team achieved 12 victories before the US Supreme Court.

Cases cited include those of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Muslim death row inmates and charitable organisations such as Philadelphia Catholic Social Services.

In 2023, Alvarado was appointed president and chief operating officer of Ewtn News (Eternal Word television network), taking over the news division of the Catholic network founded by Mother Angelica.

Under her responsibility are global platforms and titles such as Catholic News Agency, National Catholic Register, ACI Group and ChurchPop. Previously, she was also the founding host of EwtnNews In Depth, a weekly programme analysing the Church, politics and culture from a Catholic perspective.

Washington-based Ewtn is the world's largest Catholic media organisation. Ewtn's 11 global television channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 400 million television households in more than 160 countries and territories.

Ewtn's platforms also include radio services broadcast via SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio and over 600 national and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the most visited Catholic websites in the US; as well as Ewtn Publishing, its book publishing division. The station often targets conservative Catholics in the United States.

President Donald Trump has appeared several times on the channel and one of its main presenters is a Fox News columnist. During the pontificate of Francis, Ewtn has often given space to English-speaking critics of the Argentine pontiff. In 2021, Francis called such media criticism 'the work of the devil' in comments widely interpreted as being directed at Ewtn.

As Prefect of Communication, Alvarado succeeds another layman, Paolo Ruffini, chosen by Bergoglio in 2018.

Among his sentences, Alvarado said: "The Bible has transformed my life. Reading the stories of all the fragile people God has used is what helps me". And again: 'One day you will stand before St Peter and give him... what? Your CV? A sheet of paper with a list of accomplishments? He will ask you, "Who did you bring with you, darling?" Jesus himself might ask you, 'Who did you tell about me?'"

And then: 'You will spend the rest of your life getting rid of your egoism. It doesn't make sense to think you can eliminate it completely in the next four years. But what you can do is to find the meeting point between these two aspects. Get to know yourself and your talents.