The Vatican Press Office on Tuesday announced that the Pope has appointed an Editorial Director for the Dicastery of Communication and an Editor-in-Chief for the “Osservatore Romano”.

By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis has appointed Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli as Editorial Director for the Vatican Dicastery for Communication (Vatican News’ parent organization) and Andrea Monda as Editor-in-Chief of the “Osservatore Romano” newspaper.

The announcements were made on Tuesday by the Holy See Press Office.

Andrea Tornielli

The Dicastery for Communication’s new Editorial Director, Andrea Tornielli, is a well-known “Vatican watcher” having worked as a Vatican correspondent for different Italian newspapers and publications for well over 20 years.

The 54-year-old, who is married and has three children, has been working as the Vatican expert and columnist for the daily newspaper “La Stampa” since 2011 and is the coordinator of its “Vatican Insider” website, which is produced in three languages: Italian, English and Spanish.

Tornielli is also the author of the “Sacri Palazzi” blog, which provides in-depth information on the Vatican.

He has published more than 50 titles including books and essays on the history of the Church.

Andrea Monda

A Holy See press statement said that while naming Andrea Monda as Editor-in Chief of the “Osservatore Romano” the Pope  has conferred the title of Director Emeritus upon Giovanni Maria Vian who has headed the publication for the past 11 years.  

Andrea Monda is a 52-year-old author and University Professor. Married and father of one child, he  has a degree in Law and another in Religious Studies.

As well as writing for a variety of journalistic publications, including “Avvenire” and “La Civiltà Cattolica”, he teaches religion and conducts seminars on Christianity and Literature at Pontifical Universities.