Jeanette De Melo, communications director for the Archdiocese of Denver, has been appointed editor in chief of the National Catholic Register.

“Jeanette’s background in Church communications and media relations will provide a unique perspective to the Register,” said publisher Michael Warsaw, who serves as president and CEO of EWTN.

In a Feb. 28 announcement, Warsaw said De Melo will continue to combine the Register’s print material and online presence in order to “strengthen” the paper’s mission of providing breaking news coverage and news analysis “at the intersection of faith and culture.”

The new editor in chief will start her job in June. De Melo fills a position that had been vacant since EWTN’s acquisition of the Register from the Legion of Christ in February 2011.

De Melo noted the “legacy of excellent journalism” that the news agency has upheld ever since it originated from the Denver Catholic Register.

She added that she is grateful for “this little connection,” but even more so for all the people who make the National Catholic Register “the newspaper of record for the Catholic Church in America.”

Warsaw said that De Melo’s experience, combined with the Register’s “great team,” will “further strengthen our capabilities to offer our readers the most complete coverage of any Catholic newspaper.”

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who worked alongside De Melo during his time as archbishop of Denver, said that her “deep love for the Church” and “outstanding professional skills” made her the best candidate “to handle this vital kind of leadership.”

At the Archdiocese of Denver, De Melo served as the communications director, spokeswoman and general manager of the Denver Catholic Register, El Pueblo Católico and the archdiocesan website. Before she went to Denver, she co-produced a weekly archdiocesan television program for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, where she was associate communications director.

De Melo’s background includes a bachelor’s degree in humanities and Catholic culture from Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio and a licentiate degree in Church communications from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

She is a member of the Catholic Press Association and was recently invited to join the association’s education committee. She is a founding board member of ENDOW, a national Catholic women’s educational organization.