Pope Francis has appointed Slovenian academic Natasa Govekar as a director of the Vatican's new Secretariat for Communications, the Vatican said on Tuesday.
Govekar will head the Secretariat's Department of Pastoral Theology, the Vatican statement said. Born in 1975, Govekar received her doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where she teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute's Aletti Centre.
Saint John Paul II founded the Centro Aletti in 1993 to foster research on faith and art in the eastern Catholic tradition, and to provide a bridge between the Churches of east and west, according to Vatican Radio.
Francis also named Francesco Masci as director of the Secretariat's Technology Department, the Vatican also announced on Tuesday. He previously headed the Vatican's Internet Services Department, according to Vatican Radio.
