Fox News Correspondent Hired by Vatican as Media Consultant

in the wake of an ongoing VatiLeaks scandal that has deeply embarrassed the papacy, the Vatican has taken unprecented measures: They've hired a Fox News correspondent to help them with media relations.

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Greg Burke, 52, has left his post as Fox News's Rome correspondent, a position he's held since 2001, to "help improve and coordinate the Vatican's various communications," according to a Vatican official quoted in The New York Times.

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Burke's hiring marks the first time someone outside the Roman Catholic church's own media circles has held such a position. As senior communications adviser to the Holy See, Burke will work behind-the-scenes to help keep the Vatican "on-message" as it tries to maneuver itself out of the public relations mess that has recently seen the Pope's own butler arrested under suspicion of leaking private Vatican documents to the media.

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Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Burke is a practicing Catholic and a member of Opus Dei, the Catholic institution portrayed as a secretive society in The Da Vinci Code. Burke moved to Rome in 1988 to work as a correspondent for the National Catholic Register. From there he moved to Time magazine as its Rome bureau chief, and eventually took a job as Fox News' European and Middle East on-aire correspondent. 

The hire will not replace the Rev. Federico Lombardi, who will continue in his role as official Vatican spokesman.