Pope appoints first woman as head of a Vatican ‘ministry’

Born in Monza (northern Italy), Simona Brambilla was a nurse before being ordained. She obtained her doctorate in psychology before directing the Consolata Missionary Institute from 2011 to May 2023.

According to Vatican News, the Vatican’s official media outlet, since Francis’ election in 2013 and until 2023, the percentage of women in positions in the Holy See and in the administration of the Vatican State has risen from 19.2% to 23. .4%.

The Argentine pope has already appointed two women to senior positions in the ten years of his pontificate: in 2016, Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, and Sister Raffaella Petrini, secretary general of Governance in 2022, a position usually attributed to a bishop.

However, the last Synod, held at the end of 2024, highlighted the lack of visibility of women in the Church and its governance.

Although “women and men have equal dignity as members of the people of God”, “women continue to face obstacles in obtaining greater recognition” of their role, says the final document, approved by the pope.

Associations particularly active in Europe and North America lament the marginalization of women by a system considered patriarchal, despite their central role in parishes around the world.