Dicastery for Communication bids farewell, expresses gratitude to Dr. Ruffini

By Salvatore Cernuzio

Staff of the Dicastery for Communication offered a heartfelt “thank you” on October 30, to Paolo Ruffini, the journalist who has led the institution responsible for bringing together and coordinating the Vatican’s various media outlets for eight years, since his appointment by Pope Francis in 2018.

The first layperson to head an institution of the Roman Curia, Ruffini, 70, concludes his term on Saturday. He will be succeeded on Sunday, November 1, by Montserrat Alvarado, formerly president and chief operating officer of EWTN News.

Appointed by Pope Leo XIV on June 2, she also marks a first: the first laywoman to lead a Dicastery of the Roman Curia. This is a “historic” development for the Vatican’s institutional structure and, more broadly, for the Church’s journey, as Alvarado herself noted in brief remarks to Ruffini in the presence of the staff.

Incoming Prefect Alvarado’s farewell tribute

“I wanted us to be together because this is a historic moment,” she said.

“The first lay Prefect” is a sign of the “closeness of the Church” to the “different roles” and “different vocations” represented in this Dicastery, which brings together so many languages, cultures, and backgrounds, and where “we are all invited to participate in the mission of the Church.”

“We are the Pope’s instrument of communication, an enormous responsibility that you, Paolo,” added Alvarado, addressing Ruffini, “have carried on your shoulders. In English, we say, ‘He put his neck on the line.’”

She described this as something “beautiful” and “great” in a Prefect who has been “criticized and praised.” And this “is good,” Alvarado said, because “criticism helps make things better, but we also draw great strength from knowing the truth.”

Remarks from Montserrat Alvarado, the new Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication {"@context": "http://schema.org","@type": "ImageObject","contentUrl": "https://www.vaticannews.va/content/dam/vaticannews/multimedia/2026/ottobre/30/ngmym.jpg/_jcr_content/renditions/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg","creditText": "Vatican News","height": "750","width": "422"} Bringing the Gospel message to the world

“We are proud of everything we have done here,” she added. “This Dicastery is incredible: it brings the message that saves lives”—the Gospel—“to the whole world.”

Through multimedia platforms and in 58 languages, that message reaches “peoples and peripheries” every day.

“I thank you with all my heart. Your example helps me see what I can do. As a laywoman, this is all new, but you took the first step, and I can follow this path with your example,” Alvarado said.

She also thanked Ruffini for his “very great faith” and for “the invitation to be part of the history of the Church.”

Outgoing Prefect Ruffini’s words of thanks

Ruffini bid farewell to Palazzo Pio, his home for the past eight years, recalling several key words from the Motu Proprio that established the Dicastery for Communication in June 2015.

These words remain useful in “today’s communications context,” he said, because they help us “always live the present, the here and now, every moment to the full” and “build the future together.”

They are “transition, handover, journey, joy,” and also “beauty”—the beauty with which the Dicastery “has journeyed over these years.”

“We have had to face many difficulties, and we have done so thanks not to any one of us, but to all of us together,” Ruffini said.

“I will carry you in my heart. I entrust you to Montserrat, and I entrust Montse to you. You have a long road ahead, you have professionalism, love for one another, and faith. I will read your work, I will watch you, and we will not lose touch.”

Applause followed, along with a toast and a blessing from all the priests who work at Vatican News, Vatican Radio, and L’Osservatore Romano.

It was a further expression of gratitude to a Prefect who, through his often “quiet” work, has always shown care for “the sensitivities and distinctive qualities of each one of us.”