Vatican Hires Fox News Journo for Media Gig

Greg Burke will try to stop the 'blunders'
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 24, 2012 3:31 PM CDT
Vatican Hires Fox News Journo for Media Gig
Gregory Joseph Burke in the US base of Camp Spann in Afghanistan in 2007.   (AP Photo)

The Vatican has hired an American journalist from Fox News to smooth its rocky relationship with the media and help guide the Church through its latest scandal, reports Reuters. Greg Burke, 52, a member of the conservative Opus Dei group, will leave his Fox post in Rome to become communications adviser for the Vatican secretariat of state. The revolutionary new post will resemble that of White House communications adviser.

"I told them no twice but the more I thought about it the more it seemed like the right thing to do," Burke said. "I can't imagine a more exciting challenge for me at this time." The native of St Louis, Missouri, has worked for 10 years at Fox and 10 years for Time in Rome before that. He has also written books, including one about an Italian soccer team. The hire comes days after the Pope's second-in-command told reporters that the media, guided by Satan, was inventing "fairy tales" and "legends" in an effort to "destabilize" the Church. (More Vatican stories.)

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