The Vatican itself openly described Alvarado’s appointment as a continuation of Francis’s reforms and his effort to place more laypeople, including women, in positions of governance.
Sometimes the joke writes itself.
When news broke that Maria Montserrat Alvarado of EWTN News had been appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, many Catholics who still possess functioning memories immediately recognized what the appointment represented: another step in the ongoing transformation of the Roman Curia from a hierarchy of clerics into a managerial bureaucracy populated by lay executives.
Damian Thompson’s reaction was remarkable.
Rather than criticizing the principle of a laywoman becoming prefect, he mocked people who were upset and then reassuringly informed everyone that Alvarado “isn’t especially conservative.”
Imagine the argument:
“Relax. The problem isn’t merely that a laywoman is being placed in a role historically associated with the governance of the Church. The good news is she isn’t even particularly conservative.”
One almost admires the honesty.
For years, conservative Catholics have attempted to persuade traditionalists that personnel changes matter. Francis appointed liberals. Leo would appoint conservatives. Francis was the problem. The system was fine.
Then Leo appoints a woman to head a Vatican dicastery and suddenly the argument becomes that personnel do not matter after all. The office itself is no longer important. The principle itself is no longer important.
The only thing that matters is whether the latest revolutionary happens to smile politely while carrying out the revolution. That is why Thompson’s post is so revealing. It accidentally exposes the entire game.
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