Vatican spokesman, deputy resign suddenly amid overhaul by Pope Francis

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Fr. Z., who is a good friend of Greg Burke, commented on this on his blog:

wdtprs.com

Holy See Spokesman Greg Burke resigned

Today I was greeted with the excellent new that my old friend Greg Burke, the director of the Holy See Press Office and papal spokesman, has resigned. I am delighted for him. While you could not assemble a better man for the job from a multitude of parts, and Greg Burke truly is a "man of parts"
wdtprs.com wdtprs.com

I guess although an abrupt resignation, it’s not really that surprising when you think about it. Back when Burke was named as the head Vatican spokesman, it seemed like a weird fit to me, although I thought that it was smart to name an American to the post. The knowledge and experience in the Vatican in dealing with the United States and the mainstream western media, which the United States dominates, was, and still is extremely lacking, to say the least. It was smart to name an American to the post back then but Burke seemed like the antithesis of the kind of spokesman that Pope Francis would want to have; Burke is a conservative, in politics and in Catholicism compared to most of the Pope’s other men. I guess he was probably one of the few, if maybe the only, of American consultants that were working in the Vatican at the time Pope Francis was elected and they probably didn’t have much of a choice if they wanted someone from the inside to do the job. I am guessing if he had someone more experienced with the liberal end of the mainstream media Pope Francis would have chosen them as that would likely have been more likely to aid in getting Pope Francis the positive coverage from that realm of the media that he seems to covet.

It’s clear based on his statement that Burke and his deputy felt like that with the recent overhauls of the Vatican communications apparatus that they were soon going to be obsolete or isolated based on some of the people who have been promoted to more prominent posts in the Vatican communications department as of late. The communications apparatus at the Vatican has been besieged with scandal this past year and I am not confident that it is going to get any better; I’m wondering if Burke and his deputy felt the same and felt it was time to abandon ship.
 
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