Today the Vatican announced that Father James Martin—editor-at-large of America magazine and of The Colbert Report fame—was appointed to the Secretariat for Communications at the Vatican as a consultor.
The relatively new secretariat joined all of the Vatican’s communication outlets and offices into one department.
Weirdly, Martin told America that he learned about the appointment on Twitter along with the rest of the world.
[lborder]I just found out. I'm very happy to serve the church in this way. https://t.co/nn3E4vjp5z
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) April 12, 2017
I’m very happy to serve the Church in this new way. I learned of the news early this morning, when Josh McElwee of The National Catholic Reporter and Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service contacted me via Twitter to congratulate me. And given the importance of social media in the church today, that’s a good way to find out good news.
[/lborder]Martin is also often known as the “chaplain” of The Colbert Report, appearing several times in the show’s run.
Pope names Colbert's pastor as a communications consultant; saavy move for church not known for modern outreach https://t.co/cHLrNbSQuL
— Michelle Boorstein (@mboorstein) April 12, 2017
Martin is one of three Americans appointed to the department.