Pope appoints Italian nun as Vatican’s first female prefect
ROME - Pope Francis has appointed Italian nun Sister Simona Brambilla to head one of the Vatican’s dicasteries, making her the first female prefect in the Catholic Church’s history.
The Vatican’s press office reported Monday that Brambilla has been selected to lead the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
A dicastery is comparable to a ministry of government in other states.
Brambilla has served as the secretary, the second-highest rank, in the same dicastery since October 2023.
She previously worked as a nurse and missionary in Mozambique and holds a doctorate in psychology.
The Catholic Church has around 1.4 billion members worldwide and has been led by Pope Francis since March 2013.
The Church has held repeated debates about greater participation of women, particularly about the ordination of women as deacons or, at a later stage, as priests.
The most recent World Synod in October 2023, at which clerics and nonclerics debated the Church’s future, did not produce any breakthrough on the issue.
In his almost 12 years in office, Pope Francis has appointed two women to top positions.
In 2016, he chose the Italian art historian Barbara Jatta to be the director of the Vatican Museums, which serve as one of the state’s most important sources of income.
In 2022, he then named Sister Raffaella Petrini as secretary general of the governorate of Vatican City State, a role usually held by a bishop.
The possibility for Catholics who are not bishops, and therefore also women, to lead a Vatican dicastery has only existed since 2022.
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This story was originally published January 6, 2025 at 8:36 PM