The Italian sister Simona Brambilla will take care of the sector of religious orders and congregations. She is the first woman appointed to head a “ministry” at the Vatican.
This appointment is a first in the history of the Catholic Church. Simona Brambilla will head the “ministry” of religious orders and congregations.
At 59 years old, this nurse has been, since October 2023, number two in this dicastery. She officially accedes to the function of “Prefect of the Dicastery for institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life”. A title that remains masculine because the Vatican does not feminize the titles and functions of its administration.
Pope Francis has already appointed women to positions of responsibility, including Barbara Jatta in 2016, “director” of the prestigious Vatican Museums, and Raffaella Petrini, who became “general secretary” of the Governorate, a position generally reserved for a bishop. According to the official Vatican media, the proportion of women occupying positions in the Holy See and in the administration of the Vatican State was 23.4% in 2023, compared to 19.2% in 2013.
Far from parity
The last synod, a global assembly of laity and religious reflecting on the future of the Church, which was held at the end of 2024, recognized the lack of visibility of women in the Church and its government. If “women and men have equal dignity as members of the people of God”, “women continue to encounter obstacles in obtaining greater recognition” of their role, notes the final document, approved by the pope.
The question of the ordination of women, that is to say their access to the role of priest, is still unresolved. A reluctance persists on the side of the conservative fringe of the Church and in certain regions.
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