The Vatican announced Wednesday that Joaquin Navarro Valls, the former spokesman of John Paul II, has died at the age of 80. "Joaquin Navarro. RIP. Grace under pressure," said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke via the @GregBurkeRome Twitter account. The doctor-turned-journalist was called to head the Holy See's press office by John Paul II in 1984 and he held the position until 2006, a period during which modernised the Vatican's relations with the media.
"He was an inimitable master of communication," Father Federico Lombardi, who replaced Navarro Valls's to become Pope Benedict XVI's spokesman in 2006, told Vatican Radio. The funeral will take place at Rome's Sant'Eugenio at 11:00 local time on Friday, announced the Opus Dei, of which Navarro Valls was a member.
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