Father Federico Lombardi is the new director of the Pressroom of the Holy See. “The Holy Father accepted the resignation handed in by Joaquín Navarro-Valls from the office of Director of the Pressroom of the Holy See and thanked him for his long and generous work reads today’s release from the Pressroom. His Holiness has appointed director of the Pressroom of the Holy See the Reverend father Federico Lombardi, S.I., who will remain the director of the Vatican Radio Station and the Director of the Vatican TV Centre”. “I am obviously grateful to the Holy Father and the Superiors for the confidence they have in me, but I am also thinking in particular pleasantly of you and all the colleagues of the press that I am called to serve”: these are the words used by the new director in a letter to his colleagues working at the Pressroom. “I have been working for a long time, like you, so that the work of the Holy Father and the reality of the Church may be known and understood in an objective and appropriate manner. Navarro Valls has worked in the field with great ability, cleverness and devotion. We are all deeply grateful to him and keep relying on his friendship. I cannot expect I will imitate him goes on father Lombardi but you can rely on the efforts I will make, within my limits but with all the strength I have, to serve the Holy Father and your excellent job”. Finally, a thought for "all the staff of the Pressroom, from the deputy director, my friend P. Ciro Benedettini”, and today’s liturgical commemoration of Saint Benedict, “on which day I receive, perhaps not by chance, the appointment to this new office”.
