Pope Francis Names Cristiane Murray Deputy Director of the Vatican Press Office

Pope Francis elected Brazilian journalist Cristiane Murray as deputy director of the Holy See press office. With this pontifical appointment, the team that will coordinate Vatican information and relations with accredited journalists to the Holy See is completed.

Cristiane Murray is 53 years old and has worked since 1995 in the Vatican communication. First on Vatican Radio, then joined the Dicastery for communication.

Murray was born in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) on March 10, 1962 and studied business administration and marketing at the Pontifical Catholic University of his hometown.

At Vatican Radio, he worked in the Portuguese language program in news writing. Among the topics covered, he highlighted the activity of the missionary Church in the world.

In addition, he directed several radio programs directly from the pontifical ceremonies and covered some of the Holy Father's international travels.

Since 2018, he has been working with the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops on the preparation of the next Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon to be held in the Vatican in October 2019.

Murray speaks Portuguese and Italian and includes Spanish, French and English.

First statement after appointment

In a statement from the Vatican Press Service, Murray said that he "receives this appointment with emotion" because for the Journalists of the Dicastery of Communication "it is a great recognition of the daily work consisting of to bring to the world the gospel, the message of the pope and the world. l & # 39; church. "

In the same vein, the new deputy director of the press office of the Holy See also thanked the Holy Father "on his behalf and" especially "on behalf of women," he said. , "for having chosen for this important post".

"I guarantee my commitment and my enthusiasm to the director, Matteo Bruni, and to the whole group of the press office, in the service of the Holy See," added Murray after thanking the leaders of the Dicastery for the communication as well. as the heads of the general secretariat of the synod of bishops with whom he collaborated for a year in the preparation of the next synod of the Amazon.

Appointment of a woman

For his part, the prefect of the dicastery of communication, Paolo Ruffini, stressed that "the election of a woman of Brazilian origin and open to the world demonstrates the desire to create a team knowing speak the language of who is listening

"I am sure that Cristiane, who has been working in the Vatican media for so many years and whose professionalism and humanity have always been appreciated, will make a fundamental contribution to intelligence, sensitivity, memory and creativity. project to the service we all seek together to offer to the Church. ", Concluded Paolo Ruffini.

With the appointments of Matteo Bruni as director and Cristiane Murray as deputy director, the organization chart of the Vatican press service is completed; its structure includes: the head of the office, Thaddeus M. Jones, who has since worked in communication at the Vatican Pontifical Council for Social Communications (PCCS); two badistant directors, the Pauline nun Bernadette Reis, and the journalist Raúl Cabrera Pérez, both former editors of Radio Vatican and Romilda Ferrauto as an experienced consultant.