Pope Francis Names First Woman to Lead Major Vatican Office

Pope Francis has named the first woman to lead a major office of the Roman Catholic Church.

On Monday, he chose an Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, to head the department responsible for

all the Church's religious orders. The appointment is the latest effort by Francis to give women more

leadership positions in governing the Church. In the past, women have been named to secondary

leadership positions in some Church offices, but the Pope's latest appointment is the first time

a woman has been named head of a department of the central governing body of the Roman Catholic

Church. Official media for the Church reported Sister Simona Brambilla is the first woman

prefect in the Vatican. A prefect is a chief government officer in the Church. Since the

Vatican, the place in Rome where the Church is headquartered, is officially considered a country,

prefect leaders serve like officials in other governments. The position held by the 59-year-old

Brambilla is one of the most important in the Church. It is officially known as the Dicastery

for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. This means Brambilla

is now responsible for every Catholic religious order Church-wide. Pope Francis also named a male

Church official, Ángel Fernández Artime, as a co-leader to Brambilla. The reason for having a

co-leader is that only men can lead religious services, known as Masses, in the Roman Catholic

Church. Brambilla has been a member of the Consolata Missionaries Religious Order. Since

last year, she had served as secondary leader in the Religious Orders department. She will be

replacing the current prefect, retiring cardinal João Braj Díavíz, who is 77 years old. Brambilla

is a nurse who worked as a missionary in Mozambique and led a religious order from 2011

to 2023. In 2023, Francis appointed her to be secretary of the Religious Orders department.

Francis made Brambilla's appointment possible with reforms made in 2022 to the Church's founding

constitution. The changes permit individuals who are not authorized to lead Church services,

including women, to head a dicastery and become prefects. While the constitutional changes give

women more possibilities to serve, they are still not permitted to officially lead Church services.

Catholic women already do much of the Church's work in schools and hospitals,

and teach many young members. But Francis has continued a longtime ban on women being local

Church leaders, called priests. He also does not support women becoming deacons, a position just

below a priest. However, under Pope Francis's leadership, there has been a marked increase

in the number of women working in Church positions since he was elected in 2013. The

Vatican News reports the percentage of women in leadership positions rose from 19.3% in 2013 to

23.4% today. Among the women holding high leadership positions are Sister Raffaella

Petrini, the first of her female secretary-general of the Vatican City-State. She is responsible for

the territory's health care system, police force, and Vatican museums. Another nun, Sister Alessandra

Smérie, is the second-in-command in the Church's development office. Several other women have been

appointed to undersecretary positions. These include a French nun, Sister Nathalie Becquard,

who serves as an advisor to the Pope. I'm Jill Robbins.