For the first time ever, a woman will lead a major office at the Vatican. Pope Francis appointed Sister Simona Brambilla Monday, Jan. 6 to become the head of the department responsible for all the Catholic church’s religious orders.
While women have previously been named to number two spots in Vatican offices, this recent move marks a significant step in the pope adding more female representation in the church hierarchy.
According to data from the Holy See and Vatican City State, the percentage of women in the Vatican from 2013 to 2023 has increased from 19.2% to 23.4%.
However, a ban on female priests and deacons remains in place, which resulted in a man being named as Brambilla’s co-leader in order to celebrate mass and perform other sacramental functions that currently can only be done by men.
Brambilla will oversee the office officially known as the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which is considered one of the most important in the Vatican. It leads every religious order from the Jesuits and Franciscans to newer movements.
Brambilla’s background includes missionary experience in Mozambique, as well as being a nurse before joining the Consolata Missionary Sisters Institute in 2011.
She will take over the religious orders department from a retiring cardinal.
