Historic step in the Vatican. If a year ago Pope Francis made history by allowing the participation, with voice and vote, of women in the Synod of Bishops, now he has just made one of them a ‘minister’ of the Holy See. Never in the ancient history of the Catholic Church has a woman reached the rank of prefect of a Vatican dicastery, a ‘glass ceiling’ that this afternoon has been broken with the appointment of the Italian nun Sister Simona Brambilla as the new prefect of the dicastery to the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, which is responsible for the control of religious orders and institutes.
At his side, the Pope has appointed the Spanish cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, who will serve as pro-prefect. The religious was, until last August, rector major of the Salesians.
Brambilla’s appointment is also significant because she is one of the few high-ranking officials in the Vatican – until now she was secretary of the dicastery – who listened to, and believed, the victims of the Sodalitium. In fact, the previous heads of Consecrated Life, the Brazilian Cardinal Braz de Aviz and the Spanish José Rodríguez Carballo (current archbishop of Mérida-Badajoz), have been denounced by survivors of abuse in the organization founded by the pedophile Figari (and which is about to be dissolved by the Vatican) for its lack of speed in addressing the scandal.
At 58 years old, Sister Simona Brambilla is a nurse, psychologist and member of the Missionaries of Consolata. Previously she was superior general of her congregation and worked as a missionary in Mozambique. A few weeks ago, Francisco also appointed her as a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod, becoming, along with María Lía Zervino, the only two women in history to be part of the governing body called to direct the future of the Church. , on the basis of synodality.
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