The new Vice-Director of the Holy See Press Office has just been announced: Cristiane Murray.
The news of the appointment came in today’s bulletin published by the Press Office, July 25, following the appointment of the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, last Thursday, July 18.
Murray marks the second woman to have served as Vice-Director of the Holy See Press Office, following Paloma Garcia Ovejero, who stepped down last Dec. 31. 2018.
Cristiane Murray, Brazilian, has been the director of all Portuguese programming for Vatican Radio, and has played an important role in the preparations for the upcoming Synod on the Amazon, set to take place this October in the Vatican.
Here are ZENIT translations of the statements released today by Cristiane Murray herself, by Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications, Paolo Ruffini, by Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, and by the Vatican’s Editorial Director, Andrea Tornielli:
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Statement of the Deputy Director of the Press Office, Cristiane Murray
I received this appointment with emotion. For the journalists and colleagues of the Dicastery for Communication it is a great acknowledgement of our daily work to bring to the world the Gospel, the message of the Pope and of the Church. The first thank you, mine and that of all of us, especially women, goes to the Holy Father for having chosen me for this important task. I thank the Prefect, Paolo Ruffini, the Editorial Director, Andrea Tornielli, and the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, led by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, with whom I have worked for over a year in the preparation of the Synodal Assembly for Amazonia. I guarantee my commitment and my enthusiasm to the Director, Matteo Bruni, and to all the group of the Press Office, at the service of the Holy See.
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Statement of the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini
With the Holy Father’s appointment of Cristiane Murray as Deputy Director of the Holy See Press Office, the definition is completed of the top management of a fundamental structure of the Dicastery for Communication.
The choice of a woman with roots in Brazil and an open look on the world attests to the will of building a team, which is able to speak the language of those that listen to us.
I am certain that Cristiane, who has worked in the Vatican media for so many years, and whose professionalism and humanity have always been appreciated, will make a fundamental contribution of intelligence, sensibility, memory and plan in the service that all of us, together, seek to offer the Church.
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Statement of the Director of the Press Office, Matteo Bruni
The Press Office receives with gratitude the Holy Father’s appointment of Cristiane Murray as Deputy Director of the Holy See Press Office. I am certain that her professionalism and experience, matured in the years of service to the Church and to the Holy See, will be extremely precious in this new appointment. On behalf, also, of the Press Office’s staff, I give her a warm welcome and express fervid wishes for good work.
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Statement of the Editorial Director of the Dicastery for Communication, Andrea Tornielli
I am grateful to the Holy Father for having chosen Brazilian colleague Cristiane Murray for the Deputy Direction of the Holy See Press Office. Up to today, Cristiane has been an important resource for the Vatican Radio-Vatican News head and is also appreciated by the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, where she has worked for over a year, collaborating in the preparation of the Synodal Assembly for the Pan-Amazonian Region. Recognized once again is an internal professionalism in the Vatican media and I am certain that Cristiane’s competence will be precious for the work of the Holy See Press Office.
[Original texts: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
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The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, officially began his new role on Monday, July 22, 2019. He had been working as assistant to the Director of the Holy See Press Office, and has been one of the Pope’s press aides for years.
Born in the UK, Bruni speaks, beyond Italian, English very well, as well as French and Spanish.
Alessandro Gisotti, who had been director ‘ad interim’, following the resignations of Greg Burke and Paloma Garcia Ovejero on Dec. 31, 2018, had chosen to be ‘ad interim’ as he marked the first married director of the Press Office, and first to be a father of a family, as he has two children.
The Vatican’s communications structure has evolved greatly over the past century, but there was not a coordination between the different entities, such as television, radio, its newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, and publishing house.
In 2015, the Secretariat for Communications, later renamed Dicastery for Communications, was established to create an institutional coordination between all its services.
Paolo Ruffini is the current prefect of the Dicastery, and marks the first layperson to have ever headed a Vatican dicastery. Andrea Tornielli is the head of editorial direction for the Vatican.
Alessandro Gisotti and Sergio Centofanti are now serving as vice-directors of Editorial Direction.
