The first woman “minister” in the history of the Vatican
On January 6, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, appointed a woman for the first time in the history of the Vatican to the head of a dicastery, which would be comparable to the function of a minister in other countries.
The Pope appointed the Italian Simona Brambila, a nun from the missionary order of the Consolata, to the head of the dicastery for institutions of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, Vatican News announced, stressing that this is a historic event.
For years, Brambila was engaged in missionary work among young people in Mozambique, and then earned a doctorate in psychology at the Vatican Gregorian University, where she was also a professor.
Until 2022, dicasteries were called congregations and the leading positions were always reserved exclusively for men, namely cardinals and bishops.
Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has increased the presence of women, both nuns and laywomen, in Vartican affairs. According to data from the Holy See, their percentage increased from 19.2 percent to 23.4 percent from 2013 to 2023.
With the apostolic epistle “Praedicate evangelium” from 20022, he made it possible for lay people, i.e. persons who are not priests, including women, and not, as before, only cardinals and bishops, to lead dicasteries and become prefects.
In 2016, the Pope appointed Barbara Juta as the director of the Vatican Museum, which is normally a position held by lay people, and in 2022, nun Rafaela Petrina as the general secretary of the Vatican State Administration. There are also several female undersecretaries in the dicasteries, and a woman is also the deputy director of the Vatican press office.
Another number of women occupy prominent positions in the Vatican, which was once unimaginable. Since the Pope made it possible, several persons who are not clerics lead the dicasteries, so the layman Paolo Ruffini is the head of the “ministry” for communications, and Caballero Ledo heads the Vatican dicastery for the economy.
Source: Beta
Photo: Pixabay, Beta/AP
Source: bizlife.rs
