Pope Francis named the nun this Monday Simona Brambilla as prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. She is the first woman to assume a position of this rank in the Vatican, reported the press room of the Holy See and the official news portal. Vatican News.
Brambilla, 59 years old, was secretary of the same Dicastery since 2023, previously she was superior general in Italy of the Missionaries of the Consolata and is the first woman to hold the position of prefect, which “increases the number of women in relevant positions in the Vatican,” highlighted the aforementioned news portal.
In the state structure of the Vatican, Dicasteries are a kind of equivalent to the Ministries of a Stateand function as the main organizations of the Roman Curia, made up of the set of institutions responsible for the Vatican administration.
Brambilla will exercise her leadership in the Dicastery for which she has been appointed with the support of the Spanish cardinal Ángel Fernández Artimewho was named pro-prefect of the organization this Sunday.
The appointment of this nun as prefect follows the trend in Francis’ pontificate of incorporating more women into important positions in the Vatican power structure and within the Church.
This was a request reiterated in recent times in meetings such as the Synod, which approved guaranteeing more presence and responsibility for women in the Church. However, for now the Pope has ruled out pursuing issues such as the female diaconate. Female ordination still creates division between various sectors and Francis assessed that it is an issue that is still “not mature”.
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