"I will try to put myself at the service of the clear information structure of the Holy See and of the great journalistic and technical skills it expresses, to help communicate, with all means and using all platforms, in a simple and direct way, the Pope's teachings that – as the daily homilies of Santa Marta demonstrate – accompany the people of God in every part of the world."
Monda, 52, is married with one son, and is a native of Rome. He holds a degree in Jurisprudence from Rome's Sapienza University and a degree in Religious Sciences from the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Since 2000, he has taught courses on literature and on Christianity at the Pontifical Lateran and Pontifical Gregorian universities.
He is an author and journalist, with publications in Avvenire, a publication of the Italian bishops, and La Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit-run journal overseen by the Vatican.
Monda also teaches religion at a classical high school in Rome and is the host of a religion program on the Catholic TV2000 station called "Buongiorno Professore."
"I will do my part to the end to continue the work done by Professor Vian and all my predecessors, confident of being able to say, in my small way, that: 'I am consoled by the fact that the Lord knows how to work and act also with insufficient instruments,'" Monda said.
He noted that he looks forward to working with Paolo Ruffini and contributing, through the directorship of L'Osservatore Romano, to the completion of the reform of Vatican communications.
"It would be nice to imagine that an important and authoritative newspaper like L'Osservatore Romano could be read by young people all over the world who dream of good journalism," he said.
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.