By Paschal Norbert
VATICAN CITY, JANUARY 7, 2024 (CISA) – In a historic appointment and a first for women in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has appointed Consolata Missionary Sister Simona Brambilla MC, to be the first woman to lead a Vatican dicastery, naming her prefect of the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life.
59-year-old Sr Brambilla, a member and immediate former Superior General of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, was appointed on January 6, 2025, the Solemnity of the Epiphany. She has been secretary of the Vatican department for religious and consecrated life in the same dicastery since October 2023.
In her new role, she will lead the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life together with Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime SDB, former Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, who was named pro-prefect of the dicastery on January 6.
The appointment of the 64-year-old Spanish prelate, Cardinal Fernández, an ordained bishop as pro-prefect of the same dicastery was necessary because Church law calls for ordination in order to carry out certain governing powers. Meaning, the appointment of a pro-prefect recognizes that there may be situations that require the exercise of holy orders.
Sister Simona Brambilla was born in Monza, Italy, on 27 March 1965. She graduated as a professional nurse in 1986 and entered the Institute of Consolata Missionaries in 1988, making her first religious profession in 1991.
In 1998, she earned a Licentiate in Psychology from the Institute of Psychology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
After her perpetual profession in 1999, she went to Mozambique, where she was engaged in pastoral work with young people at the Macua Xirima Study Center in Maua.
From 2002 to 2006, she served as a lecturer at the Institute of Psychology of the Pontifical Gregorian University. From 2005 to 2011, she was a General Councilor of the Institute of Consolata Missionaries Sisters.
In 2008, she received her Doctorate in Psychology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 2011, she was elected Superior General of the Institute of Consolata Missionaries Sisters and was re-elected in 2017, serving until May 2023.
Since 2019, she has been a member of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Sr Brambilla joins several other religious and laywomen appointed by Pope Francis to important posts in the Vatican, including Franciscan Sister Raffaella Petrini, the first woman to hold the second-ranking post in the government of the Vatican City State.
Other high-ranking women at the Holy See are Sister Alessandra Smerilli, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; Sister Nathalie Becquart, an undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops; and laywomen Gabriella Gambino and Linda Ghisoni, undersecretaries of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life.
A number of women are also secretaries of some of the Roman Curia’s commissions and councils.
Emilce Cuda is Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; Nataša Govekar heads the theological-pastoral department of the Dicastery for Communication; Cristiane Murray is Deputy Director of the Holy See Press Office; and Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchof is Deputy Coordinator of the Council for the Economy. The General Secretariat of the Synod also has a female Undersecretary, French-born Sister Nathalie Becquart.
On December 13, 2024, the Pope appointed Sister Simona Brambilla and María Lía Zervino, former president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO), as members of the 16th Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat. María Lía Zervino had already been appointed as a member of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2022.
In the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Sr Brambilla and Cardinal Fernández will be assisted by two undersecretaries, Fr Aitor Jiménez Echave, and Sr Carmen Ros Nortes.
