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Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Pope Francis has named the primary woman to go a significant Vatican office

Pope Francis on Monday named the primary woman to go a significant Vatican office, appointing an Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, to grow to be prefect of the department liable for all of the Catholic Church’s religious orders.

The appointment marks a significant step in Francis’ aim to provide women more leadership roles in governing the church. While women have been named to No. 2 spots in some Vatican offices, never before has a lady been named prefect of a dicastery or congregation of the Holy See Curia, the central governing organ of the Catholic Church.

The historic nature of Brambilla’s appointment was confirmed by Vatican Media, which headlined its report “Sister Simona Brambilla is the primary woman prefect within the Vatican.”

The office is some of the essential within the Vatican. Known officially because the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, it’s liable for every religious order, from the Jesuits and Franciscans to smaller newer movements.

In a sign of the novelty of the appointment, and the theological implications involved, Francis concurrently named as a co-leader, or “pro-prefect,” a cardinal: Ángel Fernández Artime, a Salesian.

But the appointment, announced within the Vatican day by day bulletin, lists Brambilla first as “prefect” and Fernández second as her co-leader, which theologically is mandatory for the reason that prefect must have the option to have fun Mass and perform other sacramental functions that currently can only be done by men.

Brambilla, 59, is a member of the Consolata Missionaries religious order and had served because the No. 2 within the religious orders department since last 12 months. She takes over from the retiring Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, 77.

Francis made Brambilla’s appointment possible along with his 2022 reform of the Holy See’s founding structure, which allowed laypeople, including women, to go a dicastery and grow to be prefects.

Brambilla, a nurse, worked as a missionary in Mozambique and led her Consolata order as superior from 2011-2023, when Francis made her secretary of the religious orders department.

Her appointment is the newest move by Francis to point out by example how women can take leadership roles throughout the Catholic hierarchy, albeit without allowing them to be ordained as priests.

Catholic women do much of the church’s work in schools, hospitals and passing down the religion to future generations. But they’ve long complained of second-class status in an establishment that reserves the priesthood for men.

Francis has upheld the ban on female priests and tamped down hopes that ladies could possibly be ordained as deacons.

But there was a marked increase in the proportion of girls working within the Vatican during his papacy, including in leadership positions, from 19.3% in 2013 to 23.4% today, in response to statistics reported by Vatican News. In the Curia alone, the proportion of girls is 26%.

Among the ladies holding leadership positions are Sister Raffaella Petrini, the first-ever female secretary general of the Vatican City State, liable for the territory’s health care system, police force and primary income, the Vatican Museums, that are led by a laywoman, Barbara Jatta.

Another nun, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, is the No. 2 within the Vatican development office while several women have been appointed to under-secretary positions, including the French nun, Sister Nathalie Becquart, within the synod of bishops’ office.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely liable for this content.

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