(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 02.13.2026).- The daily choreography of Vatican communication—briefings, bulletins and carefully parsed statements—will soon include a new protagonist. Pope Leo XIV has appointed Sister Nina Benedikta Krapić, M.V.Z., as deputy director of the Holy See Press Office, entrusting the 34-year-old Croatian religious with one of the most visible roles in the Vatican’s global media apparatus.
The announcement, published in the official bulletin of the Holy See Press Office on Friday, confirms that Sister Krapić will assume her new responsibilities on March 1. She succeeds Brazilian journalist Cristiane Murray, who had served in the position since July 2019 and who was received in audience by the pope on the morning of February 13. No reasons for Murray’s resignation have been made public.
The deputy directorship of the Press Office is not merely administrative. It involves daily interaction with international journalists accredited to the Holy See, coordination of briefings during papal trips and synods, and the interpretation—often in real time—of developments that reverberate far beyond Vatican City’s walls. In a pontificate that has already demonstrated sensitivity to the global optics of papal travel and diplomatic timing, the appointment underscores the strategic importance Leo XIV attaches to communication.
Sister Krapić brings to the post an unusual blend of legal training, media experience and pastoral engagement. Born in Rijeka, Croatia, on June 7, 1989, she earned a law degree in 2015 from the University of Rijeka. Years later, in 2023, she completed a specialization in public relations at the University of Zagreb—an academic trajectory that mirrors the Church’s increasing recognition that legal literacy and communication strategy often intersect in institutional governance.
Her professional résumé extends beyond lecture halls. Before entering her current Vatican role, she worked as a journalist and as a legal adviser assisting women who had suffered domestic violence, as well as other socially marginalized individuals. She also directed communications for Caritas in the Archdiocese of Rijeka, gaining firsthand experience in articulating the Church’s charitable mission to a secular media landscape.
In August 2023, she professed vows in the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Since that same year, she has served as an official of the Dicastery for Communication, the department responsible for coordinating the Vatican’s sprawling media ecosystem, which includes Vatican News, L’Osservatore Romano and the Press Office itself. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in social sciences at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome—an academic engagement that situates her within ongoing scholarly reflection on media, society and religion.
Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, publicly thanked Murray for her “dedication and professionalism” over nearly five years of service and extended his best wishes to Sister Krapić, citing her professional and human qualities. The language reflects continuity rather than rupture, even as the office undergoes another transition.
With this appointment, Sister Krapić becomes the third woman to hold the position of deputy director of the Holy See Press Office. The first was Spanish journalist Paloma García Ovejero, followed by Murray. Both predecessors eventually stepped down from the role.
For observers of Vatican governance, the appointment signals several overlapping trends. First, the continued professionalization of Church communication, emphasizing technical expertise alongside pastoral sensibility. Second, the growing visibility of women religious in roles that shape how the papacy is perceived globally. And third, the consolidation of the Dicastery for Communication as a central actor in the Curia, especially in an era when a single press conference or digital post can have worldwide repercussions within minutes.
Sister Krapić will assume her duties at a time when the Vatican faces complex communicative challenges: managing diplomatic messaging amid geopolitical tensions, clarifying ecclesial decisions to a diverse global Catholic audience, and navigating a media environment increasingly polarized and instantaneous.
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