Joaquin Navarro Valls
Encyclopedia
Doctor Joaquín Navarro-Valls, M.D.
(born November 16, 1936, Cartagena
, Spain
), was the Director of the Holy See Press Office
(or Vatican Press Office), taking the post in 1984. His role as the press liaison between the Vatican and the world press corps gave him perhaps the highest visibility of any one person in the Vatican
during the long reign of Pope John Paul II
, with the exception of the Pope
himself. Navarro-Valls, a non-clerical journalist, resigned his post July 11, 2006. Pope Benedict XVI
has appointed the Reverend Father Federico Lombardi
, S.J., to take his place. On January 20, 2007, it was announced that he will be president of the board of advisers of the Biomedical University of Rome
.
, and then studied medicine
at the Universities of Granada
and Barcelona
, as well as journalism
at the Faculty of Sciences of Communication at the University of Navarra
in Pamplona, Spain. He also took post-graduate studies at Harvard University
in the United States
. He graduated summa cum laude in Medicine and Surgery in 1961 and took courses for a doctorate in Psychiatry
in “Trastornos psiquiátricos en los traumas craneales”. In addition, he taught at the Faculty of Medicine. In 1968, received a degree in journalism
and in the science of communication in 1980. He is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian.
(1983 and 1984).
From 1996 until 2001, he served as President of the Administration Board of the “Maruzza Lefebvre d’Ovidio” Foundation for terminally ill cancer patients.
in Cairo
(1994), Copenhagen
(1995), Beijing
(1995), and Istanbul
(1996). His continued work in medicine and journalism has allowed him to participate in national and international conferences on psychiatry and/or communication as a guest speaker. Since 1996 he has been a visiting professor at the Faculty of Institutional Social Communications of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
in Rome
.
Navarro-Valls was particularly important as a press liaison during the last few years of the reign of Pope John Paul II (reigned 1978–2005). This was especially true during the final six months of Pope John Paul's reign, during which time Navarro-Valls' expertise as a physician was important in communicating the pope's health to the press. He was apparently instrumental in bringing a high level of candor to the bulletins which daily informed the world concerning the aged pope's declining health. His own emotional closeness to the pope was apparent as the end drew near.
With the election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI — and with the new pope's approval — Navarro-Valls continued in his post for more than a year.
Navarro-Valls was devoted to the Catholic prelature Opus Dei
(The Work of God) as a secular member. His involvement with this organization dates back to 1970-75, when he lived in the central headquarters with Msgr. (later Saint) Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei.
As a numerary
of Opus Dei, he has committed himself to celibacy, although as a lay person and not a religious this is not a formal vow. When asked about this, he told one reporter: "Celibacy is a vow taken by religious, (and) mine was the choice of a way of life and behavior as a numerary of Opus Dei. In any case...it was not difficult. Unmarried chastity has helped me to master myself. Every choice in life necessarily involves leaving something else behind. Those who want to have everything end up without ever truly marrying one idea, and so do not generate children in the analogical sense; that is, other ideas."
In 1988, he received the Ischia International Journalism Award
. In 2007, he was awarded the Commander's Cross with Star Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by the President of Poland.
He then was awarded another two honorary doctorates in Humane Letters Christendom College, Virginia, USA and in Science [St. John's University, New York, USA]]
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
(born November 16, 1936, Cartagena
Cartagena, Spain
Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), was the Director of the Holy See Press Office
Holy See Press Office
The Holy See Press Office publishes the official news of the activities of the Pope and of the various departments of the Roman Curia. All speeches, messages, documents, as well as the statements issued by the Director, are published in their entirety....
(or Vatican Press Office), taking the post in 1984. His role as the press liaison between the Vatican and the world press corps gave him perhaps the highest visibility of any one person in the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
during the long reign of Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, with the exception of the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
himself. Navarro-Valls, a non-clerical journalist, resigned his post July 11, 2006. Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
has appointed the Reverend Father Federico Lombardi
Federico Lombardi
Federico Lombardi, SJ is an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the current director of the Holy See Press Office.-Early life and ordination:...
, S.J., to take his place. On January 20, 2007, it was announced that he will be president of the board of advisers of the Biomedical University of Rome
Biomedical University of Rome
The Campus Bio-Medico University is a university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1991 and is organized in 2 Faculties.-Organization:These are the 2 faculties in which the university is divided into:* Faculty of Engineering...
.
Background and education
Navarro-Valls studied at the “Deutsche Schule” in CartagenaCartagena, Spain
Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...
, and then studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at the Universities of Granada
University of Granada
The University of Granada is a public university located in Granada, Spain that enrolls approximately 80,000 students. The university also has campuses in Ceuta and Melilla. Every year, over 2,000 European students enroll in the UGR through the Erasmus Programme, making it the most popular...
and Barcelona
University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...
, as well as journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
at the Faculty of Sciences of Communication at the University of Navarra
University of Navarra
The University of Navarra is a private pontifical university based at the southeast border of Pamplona, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei as a corporate work of the apostolate of Opus Dei....
in Pamplona, Spain. He also took post-graduate studies at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He graduated summa cum laude in Medicine and Surgery in 1961 and took courses for a doctorate in Psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
in “Trastornos psiquiátricos en los traumas craneales”. In addition, he taught at the Faculty of Medicine. In 1968, received a degree in journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and in the science of communication in 1980. He is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian.
Professional career
Navarro-Valls was both a foreign correspondent for Nuestro Tiempo, and was also Foreign Correspondent for the Spanish daily newspaper ABC. Esteemed by his colleagues, he was elected a member of the Board of Directors (1979) and later President of the Foreign Press Association, ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(1983 and 1984).
From 1996 until 2001, he served as President of the Administration Board of the “Maruzza Lefebvre d’Ovidio” Foundation for terminally ill cancer patients.
Liaison of the Vatican
Navarro-Valls' work with the Holy See has enabled him to be a member of the Holy See Delegation to international conferences of the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
(1994), Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
(1995), Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
(1995), and Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
(1996). His continued work in medicine and journalism has allowed him to participate in national and international conferences on psychiatry and/or communication as a guest speaker. Since 1996 he has been a visiting professor at the Faculty of Institutional Social Communications of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic university under the Curial Congregation for Catholic Education, which it has entrusted to the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, or more commonly called Opus Dei...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Navarro-Valls was particularly important as a press liaison during the last few years of the reign of Pope John Paul II (reigned 1978–2005). This was especially true during the final six months of Pope John Paul's reign, during which time Navarro-Valls' expertise as a physician was important in communicating the pope's health to the press. He was apparently instrumental in bringing a high level of candor to the bulletins which daily informed the world concerning the aged pope's declining health. His own emotional closeness to the pope was apparent as the end drew near.
With the election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI — and with the new pope's approval — Navarro-Valls continued in his post for more than a year.
Navarro-Valls was devoted to the Catholic prelature Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
(The Work of God) as a secular member. His involvement with this organization dates back to 1970-75, when he lived in the central headquarters with Msgr. (later Saint) Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei.
As a numerary
Numerary
Numerary is a civil designation for persons who are incorporated in a fixed or permanent way to a society or group: regular member of the working staff, permanent staff, or member, distinguished from a supernumerary....
of Opus Dei, he has committed himself to celibacy, although as a lay person and not a religious this is not a formal vow. When asked about this, he told one reporter: "Celibacy is a vow taken by religious, (and) mine was the choice of a way of life and behavior as a numerary of Opus Dei. In any case...it was not difficult. Unmarried chastity has helped me to master myself. Every choice in life necessarily involves leaving something else behind. Those who want to have everything end up without ever truly marrying one idea, and so do not generate children in the analogical sense; that is, other ideas."
In 1988, he received the Ischia International Journalism Award
Ischia International Journalism Award
The Ischia International Journalism Award is one of the most important Italian journalism awards. It is organized under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, the Regione Campania, the Province of Naples, the National Federation of the Italian Press and the Order of...
. In 2007, he was awarded the Commander's Cross with Star Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by the President of Poland.
Published books
- La Manipulación publicitaria. BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
(1970) - La familia y el mundo actual. BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
(1976) - La familia y la educación. CaracasCaracasCaracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
(1978) - Fumata blanca. Ediciones Rialp, MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
(1978), ISBN 84-321-1969-5
Memorable dates
- 1936: Joaquín Navarro-Valls is born in CartagenaCartagena, SpainCartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...
, MurciaRegion of MurciaThe Region of Murcia is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeast of the country, between Andalusia and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast....
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
on November 6. His father, Joaquín, is an accomplished attorney. His mother, Conchita Valls, dedicates herself to her five children. - 1953: Having finished his classical studies at the "Deutsche Schule" in his hometown, he enters the faculty of medicine at Granada. Three years later, he goes to the University of BarcelonaUniversity of BarcelonaThe University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...
. The scientific journal "Actualidad Medica" publishes his first research work. - 1958: He meets Josemaría Escrivá and joins Opus DeiOpus DeiOpus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
as a numeraryNumeraryNumerary is a civil designation for persons who are incorporated in a fixed or permanent way to a society or group: regular member of the working staff, permanent staff, or member, distinguished from a supernumerary....
. - 1961: He receives a degree in medicine and specializes first in internal medicine and then in psychiatryPsychiatryPsychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
. He fulfills his military service as a doctor in Marina, and obtains a seminar scholarship from Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. - 1961–70: While exercising his profession of internal medicineInternal medicineInternal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
and then psychiatry at the hospital, he receives two other degrees: in journalism in 1968, and in communication sciences in 1970. He publishes his first non-medical essay: "Manipulation in Advertising." - 1970: He moves to Rome, where he continues his studies in psychiatry and lives beside Josemaría Escrivá until Escrivá's death in 1975. He publishes two essays on evolutionary psychology.
- 1977: He becomes a correspondent for the Madrid newspaper ABC, covering Italy and the eastern Mediterranean. He is frequently sent as a correspondent to Japan, the Philippines, and equatorial Africa.
- 1983: He is elected president of the Foreign Press Association in Italy, and reconfirmed the following year.
- 1984: Pope John Paul II calls him to reorganize and direct the Vatican press office.
- 1994–96. He is a member of the Holy See delegation to the international conferences of the UN in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, and Istanbul.
- 1996: He begins to teach as a visiting professor at the faculty of institutional communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy CrossPontifical University of the Holy CrossPontifical University of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic university under the Curial Congregation for Catholic Education, which it has entrusted to the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, or more commonly called Opus Dei...
in Rome. - 1997: He is sent as a speaker to the world congress of psychiatry in Madrid.
- 2005: Upon the death of Pope John Paul II, the new pope, Benedict XVI, reconfirms him as director of the press office. He recently received the latest of many honors: an honorary doctorate from the University of Valencia, an honorary doctorate in Law from the University of MurciaUniversity of MurciaThe University of Murcia is the main university in Murcia, Spain. With 38,000 students, it is the largest university in the Región de Murcia.-History:...
followed by two other honorary doctorates from the Universities of Naples and Varese, Italy, all three of them in Sciences of Communications.
He then was awarded another two honorary doctorates in Humane Letters Christendom College, Virginia, USA and in Science [St. John's University, New York, USA]]
- 2006: He announces that he has asked Pope Benedict XVI to allow him to resign (June). He was finally replaced on July 11 by Father Federico LombardiFederico LombardiFederico Lombardi, SJ is an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the current director of the Holy See Press Office.-Early life and ordination:...
, SJ. - 2007: Appointed President of the Advisory Board of the Università Campus Bio-Medico, Rome, Italy.
- 2009: Appointed President of the Telecom Italia Foundation, Rome, Italy