For the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, a woman will become head of one of the ‘ministries’ within the Vatican. Italian nun Simona Brambilla (59) was appointed by Pope Francis on Monday as prefect of the dicastery (subdivision of the Curia, the administrative apparatus of the church) responsible for religious communities, reports the Vatican.
The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Communities of Apostolic Life deals with Catholic monastic orders, monks and nuns. Brambilla replaces Joao Braz de Aviz, whose right-hand man she was for more than a year. Since 2022, it is no longer mandatory for dicasteries to be led by bishops, opening the door to women.
Under Pope Francis, the position of women within the Roman Catholic Church is changing. After he took office in 2013, there was carefully more room for women in prominent positions. For example, he previously appointed Barbara Jatta as director of the Vatican Museums and Raffaella Petrini became secretary general of the city-state of Vatican City in 2022.
Another sensational appointment by the Vatican on Monday was that of Robert McElroy as Archbishop of Washington. The current Archbishop of San Diego is considered progressive within the church and is regularly critical of incoming President Donald Trump. On Monday, he called the large-scale deportation of illegal migrants, which Trump is threatening, “incompatible with Catholic teaching.”
Also read
Vatican synod was ‘a step in the right direction’