Former Fox News correspondent turned Vatican spokesperson Greg Burke is featured in an in-depth look at the interal working of the Catholic Church by the Washington Post.
Burke had to deal with the fallout from the leaked documents, and helped lead the communications response to the crisis. He cited his old boss at Fox News as having influenced how he conducts business in Vatican City.
“I’m within the 15-minute Roman grace period,” he said in Italian. Burke’s approach to media, like his Italian, bears a strong American accent. “I would love to bring some Roger Ailes into this job,” he said. “The difference is Roger Ailes has a lot of power, and I have very little.”
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As for what he did:
Burke and company developed a two-pronged damage-control strategy to confront the leak scandal: heap blame on the butler as a simpleton suffering delusions of grandeur and use the Vatican trial that convicted the butler as evidence of the church’s commitment to transparency.
“I don’t think we got enough credit for what we’ve done,” Burke said. “It might not have been perfect. But 10 years ago, would there have been an open trial?”