There will also be two women in the Congregation for Bishops, the dicastery that oversees the appointments and provisions that affect all the bishops of the world. It was Pope Francis who announced this opening: the two women appointed will be involved in the operations for the election of new diocesan pastors. The Pope explained this to the agency Reutersin response to a question on the presence of women in the Vatican and on the “Praedicate evangelium(Which reforms the curia and deals with the possibility of entrusting the laity, men and women, with leadership roles in the governance of the Church).
«I am open for the opportunity to arise. Now the Governorate has a vice governor … Now, in the Congregation of Bishops, in the commission to elect bishops, two women will go for the first time. A little bit opens like this“. Not only that: the Pope explains that, in the future, it will be It is possible that the laity may lead some dicasteries, such as “the one for the laity, the family and life, the one for culture and education, or the Library, which is almost a dicastery”. For example, the layman Paolo Ruffini, former director of Rai3, is in the communication department.
But the “revolution” has already begun: last year, for the first time, the Pope appointed a woman, Sister Raffaella Petrini, in position number two in the Vatican Governorate. And again, Sr. Nathalie Becquart, a French religious of the Xaviere Missionary Sisters, was appointed undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, and Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, a Salesian religious, number two of the Dicastery for integral human development.
There are already lay women at the top of the Vatican. Among them, Francesca Di Giovanni, undersecretary for the multilateral sector of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, Barbara Jatta, the first female director of the Vatican Museums, Nataša Govekar, director of the Theological-Pastoral Direction of the Dicastery for Communication , and Cristiane Murray, deputy director of the Holy See Press Office. Both were nominated by Pope Francis.
Source: Vanity Fair
