Ex-papal spokesman and Catholic luminary Navarro-Valls dies, aged 80

FILE PHOTO: The Pope's official spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls gestures during a news conference in the Holy See press office at the Vatican April 16, 2005. REUTERS/Tony Gentile/File Photo

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who as spokesman for two popes was the world's second-most visible Catholic luminary for nearly a quarter of a century, died on Wednesday at the age of 80, friends said.

Navarro-Valls, a Spaniard who had degrees in medicine and psychiatry before becoming a journalist, had been suffering from cancer. He died in Rome.