Bishops' Conference separates from communications director Julia Moreno!

Bishops' Conference separates from communications director Julia Moreno!

In a surprising twist, the Swiss bishops and their communications chief Julia Moreno have decided to go their separate ways. The decision followed “different views on the design of the SBK’s communication,” as announced in a statement from the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBK). Moreno had been in office since August 2022 and had previously headed the communications department of the Neuchâtel diocesan region. The employment relationship is now being terminated, which is rather drastic for such institutions and raises questions about future communication.

The SBK, which was founded in 1863 as the first bishops' conference in the world, acts as the central coordination body for the dioceses in Switzerland. It consists of nine members, including the bishops of the six dioceses as well as the auxiliary bishops and the abbots of the territorial abbeys of Saint-Maurice and Einsiedeln. The publication of Moreno's departure emphasizes the importance that the SBK attaches to communication, as it holds regular meetings and uses various expert panels to address important topics such as theology, ecumenism and bioethics. This illustrates that internal tensions can arise even in high-ranking ecclesiastical institutions that are in dialogue with society, such as it bischoefe.ch determines.