Michael Warsaw, chairman and CEO of EWTN Global Catholic Network, has been named by Pope Francis as an adviser to the Vatican Secretariat for Communications.
The Vatican released the names of 13 appointments last week. Also included in the list are Graham Ellis, deputy director of BBC Radio, and Fr James Martin of America magazine.
Pope Francis named six priests, six lay men and one lay woman to be the new consultors or advisers to the communications body, which is led by Mgr Dario Vigano and coordinates the Vatican’s communications and media operations.
The consultors are an advisory group separate from the secretariat members – a group of 16 cardinals, bishops and lay people the Pope named last year.
Mr Warsaw, who joined EWTN in 1991, has held top-level management positions in television production, satellite operations and technical services. The network, which includes radio, publishing and the National Catholic Register, reaches more than 140 countries in the world.
Fr Martin, editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America, has a business degree and worked in corporate finance before entering the Society of Jesus. He is a frequent contributor to major media outlets in the United States and is a member of an Off-Broadway theatre company in New York City.
Three of the other consultors named are:
— Ann Carter, co-founder of the Boston-based Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, who now heads AC Communication Partners, advising on business challenges and communications issues. She was CEO of Rasky Baerlein when the firm dropped its role as the Archdiocese of Boston’s outside public relations firm, after the sexual abuse crisis in the Church there emerged; the firm picked up its work again after the head of the archdiocese, Cardinal Bernard Law, resigned.
— Michael Unland, executive director of the Catholic Media Council (CAMECO), which assists media and communication outlets around the world and seeks to help the Church’s presence in the media as well as underline the importance of the media within the Church.
— Dino Cataldo Dell’Accio, an expert in information and communications technology and security, and chief ICT auditor of the United Nations, New York headquarters.
Nigerian bishop says Boko Haram attacks are demonic
A bishop whose diocese is at the centre of the Boko Haram insurgency has said the attacks are “demonic” and the battle is spiritual and not purely physical.
“The battle against Boko Haram should not be limited to the physical realm, but it needs to be fought in the spiritual realm for it is a demonic attack,” Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri told reporters.
The bishop praised the Nigerian government for its successes against terrorism but urged it to end all violence in northeastern Nigeria, where there were still pockets of attacks and suicide bombings.
Maiduguri diocese covers Borno and Yobe states and part of Adamawa state. Last month Borno Governor Kashim Shettima said 100,000 people had been killed by Boko Haram in his state since 2009. He also said 2.1 million people had become displaced within the state. The governor said the figures were based on estimates from community leaders.
Bishop Doeme told reporters that 500 Catholics were among the 100,000 killed. He said 25 priests and 40 nuns were among those displaced, while 250 churches in northeastern Nigeria had been razed by Boko Haram militants in 2014 alone.
Stamp marks Benedict’s birthday
Benedict XVI celebrated his 90th birthday on Monday with a delegation from Bavaria that included his older brother Mgr Georg Ratzinger. The occasion featured a traditional glass of Bavarian beer.
To mark the birthday the Vatican is to release a new stamp featuring Benedict XVI praying the rosary. The Philatelic and Numismatic Office said the stamp sheet, designed by artist Daniela Longo, was intended as an “affectionate tribute”.
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