The former Fox News reporter Greg Burke has been appointed as official spokesperson to Pope Francis.
It was announced today that the 56-year-old American layman is replacing long-time Vatican spokesperson Fr Federico Lombardi, who has submitted his resignation.
Burke, from St Louis, Missouri, will take up his position as director of the Holy See press office on 1 August.
He was until June 2012 Rome correspondent for Fox News, the TV channel, and before that a writer for Time magazine in the city. He became vice director of the press office and is credited in part with creating Pope Francis' huge social media presence.
Burke, who is widely seen as creative but also a "safe pair of hands" at the Vatican, worked for Fox News for 10 years. The former broadcaster, who is said by friends to have a strong "hinterland" outside church politics, started his career in Rome working for the Reuters news agency and has also written several books, including one on Italian football.
Burke told Christian Today: "I am absolutely thrilled, at the same time, it's a bit daunting. That said, if you want to working for anyone in communications right now, it's probably Pope Francis."
As a journalist, he covered among many other stories the illness and death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI.
A 40 year-old-female Spanish journalist from Madrid, Paloma García Ovejero, will be the first woman to hold the position of the Press Office's vice director when she takes over from Burke at the beginning of August.
