Pope Francis has appointed Dr Paolo Ruffini, current Director of the Italian Bishops’ Conference TV2000, as the new Prefect for the Dicastery for Communication. Dr Ruffini will be the first lay person to be appointed as head of a dicastery of the Roman Curia. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, is a member of the Secretariat for Communication.
A native of Palermo, Sicily, Dr Ruffini has been a professional journalist since 1979. He has worked with Italian papers Il Mattino of Naples (1979-1986); and Il Messaggero of Rome (1986-1996); in radio at Giornale Radio Rai (1996-2002), Canale Gr Parlamento (1998-2002), Radio 1 (1999-2002) and Inblu Radio (2014-2018); and on television at Rai3 (2002-2011), La 7 (2011-2014); and most recently as Director of Tv2000 from 2014.
Dr Ruffini has received numerous awards for journalism, and taken part in numerous conferences on the role of communications ethics, the new media, and the role of Christians in media.
Dr Ruffini is married to Maria Argenti.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication oversees the Church’s media operation, including Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, and Vatican News, which resulted from the merger of what used to be the Vatican’s Television Center and Vatican Radio. More than 500 people are employed by the dicastery, which also oversees the press office headed by Greg Burke.
ENDS
