Kim Daniels, '94: Named to Vatican's Secretariat for Communications

Two days after appointing an American as its new spokesman, the Vatican has named an American laywoman as a member of the Secretariat for Communications, a body created by Pope Francis last year to manage and overhaul Rome’s different news and media outlets.

Kim Daniels is a former spokesperson for the president of the US bishops’ conference, where she served both Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz.

She’s also a founder and former director of Catholic Voices USA. She is currently a communications consultant for organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, the Archdiocese of Washington, the Catholic Climate Covenant, and Women Speak for Themselves.

A graduate of Princeton and the University of Chicago Law School, she is currently a lay adviser to the US bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.

Daniels told Crux she was “honored and excited” by the appointment, which she said comes at a key moment in the development of Church communications.