Pope Francis has said he wants to give women more senior positions in the Holy See and revealed that, for the first time, he would nominate women to a previously all-male Vatican committee that helps him select the world’s bishops.
The role of women in the Vatican hierarchy was one of many international and church issues that the 85-year-old pontiff discussed in an exclusive interview with Reuters at his Vatican residence on July 2.
A new constitution for the Holy See’s central administration, which took effect last month, allows any baptized Catholic, including lay men and women, to head most Vatican departments.
“I am open to giving (women) a chance,” he said in the part of the 90-minute interview that discussed the new constitution for the central administration, known as the Curia.
He mentioned that last year, for the first time, he named a woman to the number two position in the government of Vatican City, making Sister Raffaella Petrini the highest-ranking woman in the smallest state in the world.
“Two women will be nominated for the first time on the committee to elect bishops in the Congregation for Bishops,” he said.
The move, which has not been officially announced, is highly significant because for the first time women will have a voice in the nomination of the world’s bishops, who are all men.
“That way, things are opening up a little bit,” he said.
new constitution
Francis did not name the women or say when the appointment would be officially announced.
Members of the committee, which is now made up of cardinals, bishops and priests, usually meet twice a month in Rome.
Last month, Irish-American Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, joked that with the promulgation of the new constitution, he will likely be the last cleric to head that department.
Asked which other Vatican department could be headed by a layman or laywoman, Francis suggested they could include the department of Catholic Education and Culture and the Apostolic Library. They are currently led by male clerics.
Francis has already appointed several women, both nuns and lay people, to Vatican departments.
Last year, he named Italian nun Sister Alessandra Smerilli to the number two position in the Vatican’s development office, which deals with issues of justice and peace.
In addition, Francis has appointed Nathalie Becquart, a French member of the Xaviere Missionary Sisters, as undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, which prepares major meetings of world bishops held every few years.
Lay women who already hold senior positions at the Vatican include Barbara Jatta, the first director of the Vatican Museums, and Cristiane Murray, deputy director of the Vatican Press Office. Both were nominated by Francis.
Source: CNN Brasil

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