Pope names first-ever woman prefect

Vatican News recalled that on July 8, 2019, the Pope for the first time appointed seven women as members of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. (Photo By Jeffrey Bruno/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)

By ANSA, Philippine News Agency

ROME –  Pope Francis has appointed Sister Simona Brambilla, until now Secretary of the same institution, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Vatican Press Office said Monday.

She is the first-ever female prefect of the Catholic Church.

Monza-born Brambilla, 59, led the women’s branch of the Consolata Missionaries from 2011 to 2023 when she became the dicastery’s secretary.

She is now the highest-ranking woman in the Roman Curia.

Sister Brambilla was born in Monza on March 27, 1965. After obtaining a diploma as a professional nurse in 1986, in 1988 she entered the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, where in 1991 she made her first religious profession.

In 1998 she obtained a Licentiate in Psychology from the Institute of Psychology of the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1999, she went to Mozambique, where she worked in youth ministry at the Macua Xirima Study Center in Maua.

From 2002 to 2006 she was a professor at the Institute of Psychology of the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 2011 she was elected Superior General of the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters and was re-elected in 2017, until May 2023. Since 2019 she has been a member of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. From today she is its prefect.

Vatican News recalled that on July 8, 2019, the Pope for the first time appointed seven women as members of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Later, Sister Brambilla was first chosen as Secretary of the Dicastery and now as prefect.

Since the beginning of Pope Francis’s pontificate, the presence of women in the Vatican has increased, noted Vatican News.

According to overall data covering both the Holy See and Vatican City State from 2013 to 2023, the percentage of women has risen from 19.2% to 23.4%.

A pathway outlined by the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium of 2022, the Pope has made it possible for laypeople, including women, to lead a Dicastery and become Prefect, a role previously reserved for Cardinals and Archbishops.

In Vatican City State, Pope Francis has appointed two women to leadership positions during his pontificate. In 2016, he named Barbara Jatta as Director of the Vatican Museums, which has traditionally been led by laypeople. In 2022, he named Sister Raffaella Petrini as Secretary General of the Governorate, a role usually held by a bishop.

There are also several female Undersecretaries, such as Gabriella Gambino and Lina Ghisoni at the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, while Sister Carmen Ros Nortes of the Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation serves as Undersecretary at the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Emilce Cuda is Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; Nataša Govekar heads the theological-pastoral department of the Dicastery for Communication (our parent organization); Cristiane Murray is Deputy Director of the Holy See Press Office; and Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchof is Deputy Coordinator of the Council for the Economy. The General Secretariat of the Synod also has a female Undersecretary, French-born Sister Nathalie Becquart.

On December 13, 2024, the Pope appointed Sister Brambilla and María Lía Zervino, former president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO), as members of the 16th Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat. María Lía Zervino had already been appointed as a member of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2022.