Pope Francis names first woman to head major Vatican office

Pope Francis has appointed the first woman to lead a major Vatican department, naming Italian nun Sister Simona Brambilla as head of the department overseeing all religious orders within the Catholic Church. This appointment marks a significant step in Francis's efforts to give women more leadership roles in church governance. While women have held second-in-command positions in some Vatican departments, no woman has ever been appointed as the head of a department or religious order within the Holy See (the central administrative body of the Catholic Church).

The Vatican media has acknowledged the historical significance of Brambilla's appointment, with its report headlined "Sister Simona Brambilla becomes the first woman head of a Vatican department." The department, formally known as the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, is one of the Vatican's most important, overseeing every religious order, from the Jesuits and Franciscans to smaller, emerging movements.

To indicate the novelty of the appointment and the theological implications involved, Francis simultaneously appointed a cardinal, Ángel Fernández Artime (a Salesian), as co-leader or “co-prefect.” However, in the list of appointments published in the Vatican daily bulletin, Brambilla was listed first as “prefect,” with Fernández listed second as her co-leader, a theological necessity since the prefect must be able to preside at Mass and perform other sacramental functions currently reserved for men.

Brambilla, 59, a member of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, has served as the number two official in the religious orders department since last year. She succeeds Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, 77, who is retiring. Francis’s 2022 reform of the Holy See’s fundamental constitution made Brambilla’s appointment possible, as it allows lay people, including women, to lead departments and become prefects. Brambilla, a former nurse, served as a missionary in Mozambique and was the Superior General of the Consolata Sisters from 2011 to 2023 before Francis appointed her as secretary of the religious orders department.

Her appointment is the latest move by Francis to show, through concrete action, how women can hold leadership roles in the Catholic Church hierarchy, even though he does not allow them to be ordained as priests. Catholic women do much of the Church’s work in schools, hospitals, and passing on the faith to future generations. But they have long complained of second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men. Francis has maintained the ban on female priests and has suppressed hopes that women might be ordained as deacons. Nevertheless, during Francis's tenure, the proportion of women working at the Vatican has increased significantly, including in leadership positions, rising from 19.3% in 2013 to 23.4% today, according to Vatican News statistics. In the Curia alone, the percentage of women has reached 26%.

Women in leadership positions include Sister Raffaella Petrini, the first female Secretary-General of the Vatican City State, who oversees the territory’s health care system, police force, and its main source of revenue, the Vatican Museums, which are led by laywoman Barbara Jatta. Another nun, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, is the number two official in the Vatican development office, and several women have been appointed as undersecretaries, including French nun Nathalie Becquart in the Synod of Bishops office.