The former Director of the Press Office of the Holy See , passes away

Joaquin  Navarro-Valls,  the  former  director  of  the  Press  Office  of  the  Holy  See,  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  the  Catholic  Church,  passed  away  from  pancreatic  cancer  on  5^th  July  2017,  at  the  age  of  80.  Joaquin  is  considered  as  the  longest  Spokesman  for  Holy  Father   Pope  Paul  II  from  the  year  1984  when  he  accepted  the  offer  from  His  Holiness,  to  be  the  head  of  the  Press  Office  of  the  Holy  See  and  continued  in  the  position  till  2006.

As  reported  by  the  Vatican  News ,  the  website  of  Opus  Dei,  in  which  Joaquin  was  a  member  , remarked  that ,  “In  the  sacristy  of  the  basilica  of  the  Church  of  St. Eugene,  the  funeral  mass  will  be  celebrated  for  Joaquin  Navarro-Valls  on  7^th  July  2017.”

Joaquin  trained  as  a  medical  doctor  with  a  specialization  in  psychiatry  as  well  as  in  journalism  and  eventually  was  elected  as  the  President  of  the  Foreign  Press  Association  in  the  city  of  Rome  , before   getting  into  the  position  of  Director  of  the  Press  Office  of  the  Holy  See .  Fr.  Federico  Lombardi  SJ  is  the  present  Successor  of  Joaquin  Navarro-Valls  in  the  directorship  of  the  Holy  See  Press  Office.

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