First female deputy for Pope’s office

Pope Francis on Monday appointed the tiny state’s first-ever female deputy spokesperson and named a former Fox News correspondent to head up the Vatican press office.

His deputy will be Spanish journalist Paloma Garcia Overo, 40, previously the Rome and Vatican correspondent for the Spanish broadcaster COPE. In her role as spokeswoman to the world’s media, Ovejero, who is from Madrid, will soon become one of the most prominent women in the Vatican hierarchy.

American Greg Burke, 56, brought in by the Vatican in 2013 to overhaul its public-relations operation, will take up the post on August 1, when outgoing chief spokesman Federico Lombardi steps down.

Burke, who also worked as correspondent in Rome for the Catholic weekly National Catholic Reporter and Time magazine, is a “numerary” member of the influential conservative Catholic group Opus Dei, meaning he is a lay person but is celibate. Vatican watcher John Allen, writing for the Cruxnow website, said the appointments showed the pope’s wisdom and strength. “He’s debunked impressions of being anti-American, he’s shown that competence matters, and he’s signalled openness to groups seen as conservative,” he wrote.

“For a bonus, Francis tapped a lay woman as Burke’s number two... a veteran journalist who’s well-liked and well-respected in the Vatican press corps, and who brings enormous good will to the post.”

Jesuit Father Lombardi, who turns 74 next month, steps down after heading up the press office for 10 years, through much of Benedict XVI's papacy — and his shock resignation — as well as the first three years of Francis’s.

Burke’s appointment may rile the Vatican’s old guard, the Italians, but it will likely soothe those worried Francis is overly liberal.