10 Facts About Federico Lombardi

Federico Lombardi was born on 29 August 1942 and is an Italian Catholic priest and the former director of the Holy See Press Office.

Federico Lombardi succeeded Joaquin Navarro-Valls and was succeeded by Greg Burke.

Federico Lombardi was born on 29 August 1942 in Saluzzo, Piedmont, Italy, and was trained in mathematics and studied theology in Germany.

Federico Lombardi became a Jesuit priest in 1972, and then worked for the influential Jesuit-run magazine, La Civilta Cattolica, and served as superior of the Jesuits' Italian province.

Federico Lombardi was named program director and later director general of Vatican Radio.

Federico Lombardi was made general director of the Vatican Television Centre in 2001; a position he held until 2013 and in which Dario Edoardo Vigano succeeded him.

Federico Lombardi was later criticized himself by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos over the problems in communication revealed during the affair.

Federico Lombardi said that the Pope had never been a member of the Hitler Youth, but journalists quickly pointed out to him that Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope, had admitted this himself in the 1997 book Salt of the Earth.

In September 2012, Federico Lombardi released a second statement on the 2012 diplomatic missions attacks which clearly condemned mob violence; his first statement had been criticized by Catholic bloggers for omitting to condemn the violence, and for emphasizing primarily the religious feelings of offended Muslims.

Father Federico Lombardi was succeeded as Director of the Press Office on 1 August 2016 by the then-Deputy Director, Mr Greg Burke, an American from Saint Louis, Missouri, who had held the Deputy Director's post since 2015, having worked beforehand in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See in the General Affairs Section, as Assessor for Communications.