Pope Francis on Monday named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, appointing an Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, to become prefect of the department responsible for all of the Catholic Church’s religious orders.
The appointment marks a major step in Francis’s aim to give 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 woman 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 first woman prefect in the Vatican.”
Brambilla, 59, is a member of the Consolata Missionaries religious order and had served as the No. 2 in the religious order department since last year. She takes over from the retiring Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, 77.
In an indication of the novelty of the appointment, and the theological implications involved, Francis simultaneously named as a co-leader, or “pro-prefect,” a cardinal: Ángel Fernández Artime, a Salesian. But the appointment, announced in the Vatican daily bulletin, lists Brambilla first as “prefect” and Fernández second as her co-leader, which theologically is necessary since the prefect must be able to celebrate Mass and perform other sacramental functions that currently can only be done by men.
The Vatican did not indicate how responsibilities would be split between the pair.
The office, known officially as the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, is responsible for every religious order, from the Jesuits and Franciscans to smaller newer movements.
Catholic women do much of the church’s work in schools, hospitals and passing down the faith to future generations. But they have long complained of second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men.
Greater roles for women
Francis has upheld the ban on female priests and tamped down hopes that women could be ordained as deacons.
But there has been a marked increase in the percentage of women working in the Vatican during his papacy, including in leadership positions, from 19.3 per cent in 2013 to 23.4 per cent today, according to statistics reported by Vatican News.
Among the women holding leadership positions are Sister Raffaella Petrini, the first-ever female secretary general of the Vatican City State, responsible for the territory’s health-care system, police force and main source of revenue, the Vatican Museums, which are led by a laywoman, Barbara Jatta.
Another nun, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, is the No. 2 in the Vatican development office, while several women have been appointed to undersecretary positions, including a French nun, Sister Nathalie Becquart, in the synod of bishops’ office.
Francis makes key U.S. appointment
Separately, Francis named Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego as the archbishop of Washington. McElroy, 70, replaces Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who at 77 is two years beyond the normal retirement age for bishops.
Francis has long had his eye on McElroy, making him bishop of San Diego in 2015 and then elevating him as a cardinal in 2022.
McElroy has been one of a minority of U.S. bishops harshly criticizing the campaign to exclude Catholic politicians who support abortion rights from Communion, a campaign Francis has publicly criticized by insisting that bishops must be pastors, not politicians.
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He has also questioned why the U.S. bishops’ conference, which has leaned conservative in its leadership, consistently insists on identifying abortion as its “preeminent” priority. He has questioned why greater prominence was not given to issues such as racism, poverty, immigration and climate change.
McElroy has also expressed support for LGBTQ+ youth and denounced the bullying often directed at them, further aligning himself with Francis’s priorities as pope.
Francis made the appointment ahead of his final meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, who is making a last foreign trip to Italy this week.
Donald Trump, who will have his election win certified on Monday before taking office on Jan. 20, has nominated Brian Burch as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. Burch, president and co-founder of the advocacy group CatholicVote, has criticized Francis and some of his policies on social media.
