Pope Francis announced that a 59-year-old Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, would serve as prefect for one of the most important offices in the Vatican.
Sister Brambilla will oversee every religious order — from the Jesuits and Franciscans to smaller newer movements — in an office known as the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
However, the pontiff has also upheld the ban on female priests and dampened hopes of women being ordained as deacons.
Although women have been named number two in certain Vatican offices, Sister Brambilla’s appointment marks the first time that a woman serves as prefect of a dicastery or congregation within the Holy See Curia, the central governing organ of the Catholic Church.
Given that a prefect must be able to celebrate Mass and perform sacramental functions — which can only be done by men — Pope Francis simultaneously named Salesian Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime as a co-leader, or “pro-prefect” of Sister Brambilla’s religious order.
A member of the Consolata Missionaries religious order, Sister Brambilla will succeed the retiring Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, who is 77 years old.
A nurse, Sister Brambilla worked as a missionary in Mozambique and led her Consolata order as superior from 2011 to 2023, when Pope Francis made her secretary of the religious orders department.
An evolving position for women in the Catholic women
Catholic women do much of the church’s work in schools and hospitals, as well as working to pass down faith to future generations. However, many complain of second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men.
During Pope Francis’ papacy, the number of women in leadership positions rose from 19.3% in 2013 to 23.4% today, according to statistics reported by Vatican News. In the Curia alone, the percentage of women is 26%.
Among other women holding leadership positions is Sister Raffaella Petrini, the first-ever female secretary general of the Vatican City, responsible for the territory’s health care system, police force and Vatican museums.
Sister Alessandra Smerilli from the development office is another woman serving as an undersecretary, while several other women have been appointed to similar positions, such as French nun Sister Nathalie Becquart in the Synod of Bishops’ Office.
