VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

The first significant appointments in the communications field have been made following the establishment of the Secretariat for Communications headed by Mgr. Dario Edoardo Viganò. Pope Francis has appointed Stefano D’Agostini as the new director of the Vatican Television Center (CTV). He is currently the Center’s technical director and succeeds Mgr. Viganò.

American journalist Greg Burke’s appointment as vice director of the Holy See Press Office is also significant. Burke, a former Fox News correspondent, has served as senior communications adviser to the Vatican Secretariat of State since 2012 – right when the first Vatileaks scandal broke out. He is Fr. Federico Lombardi’s third deputy, the other two being Fr. Ciro Benedettini and Angelo Scelzo.

Burke replaces Ciro Benedettini who is due to retire after 21 years of service. In his Christmas speech to journalists from the Vatican Press office,…