Media
“The appointment of the new heads of the Holy See Press Office represents a further step in the reform process”. Mgr. Dario Edoardo Viganò, Prefect of the Secretariat for Communications (SPC), said this today as he announced the news of the appointment of Gregory Burke as director of the Vatican Press Office and of Paloma García Ovejero as deputy director. “I can state clearly – Mgr. Viganò remarked – that there is no uncertainty about the reform. In fact, the process is moving on with great attention and reflection”. Hence – he pointed out – “we have four directorates under the guidance of the prefect which, for now, will also be the governing body of the Dicastery: the General Affairs Department; the Technology Department; the Theological-Pastoral Department; and the Department for Institutional Communications (that is, the press office). Mgr. Viganò “again” encouraged everyone to have an “open heart and mind to overcome the temptations of the so-called ‘we have always done it this way’ and of a consolatory rhetoric which emphasises the great things the Church has done throughout history”. Only in this way can “a true reform process” begin, in all sectors. As for the press office, the prefect insisted that its role “will remain the same, as it is the proper place for institutional communication. However, there might be some changes in the way relations with journalists are handled. I think, for instance, of a digital system so that all may be timely informed. Or the possibility of extending the opening hours to meet the needs of the whole world”. In brief, he concluded, “apart from the practicalities, the press office is and will remain the place where institutional communication takes place”.
