Thin end of the ordination wedge. Women working in the Roman Curia.
Holy See. More women in the Roman Curia: who is Sister Merletti, appointed secretary
The nun will hold the position in the Dicastery for Consecrated Life of which Sister Brambilla is prefect. Since Paul VI in 1967, the first female choice in a role of responsibility
With Pope Francis, the presence of women working for the Holy See has risen to 23.4%
The Roman Curia is a little pinker. Above all, the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is even more feminine. Pope Leo XIV has in fact appointed Sister Tiziana Merletti, former Superior General of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, as secretary, while the head of this office is Sister Simona Brambilla, who in turn was, until last January, secretary. The pro-prefect is instead a man, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, former Rector Major of the Salesians. Sister Merletti was born in Abruzzo on September 30, 1959 in Pineto, in the province of Teramo. In 1986, she made her first religious profession at the Institute of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. In 1984, she obtained a degree in Law from the then Free University of Abruzzo “Gabriele d’Annunzio” in Teramo and, in 1992, a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. From 2004 to 2013, she was the superior general of her religious institute. She is currently a professor at the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome and collaborates as a canonist with the International Union of Superiors General.
Sister Merletti joins the not yet very numerous but significantly increasing list of women in leading roles among the Pope's collaborators. A role that particularly well photographs the Franciscan nun Sister Raffaella Petrini, president of the Governorate of the Vatican City State since March 1, of which she had already been secretary general since 2021. In practice, with her, for the first time the executive power within the city-state is entrusted to a non-ordained person and a woman at that. Sister Petrini is also president of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State, a body that among other tasks has that of approving laws and approving budgets and deliberating the financial plan. A few weeks before Sister Petrini began her activity, Pope Francis had instead appointed the first woman prefect, Sister Brambilla whose appointment is dated January 6, 2025.
Even if the first Vatican appointment of a woman is attributed to Paul VI, it was certainly Bergoglio who accelerated the presence of women in the Curia, even with leading roles. L'Osservatore Romano recalls in particular that between 2013 and 2023, the percentage of women working for the Holy See went from 19.1% to 23.4%. The path began in 2014 with the appointment of British sociologist Margaret Archer to lead the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, while the choices of Spanish journalist Paloma García Ovejero as deputy director of the Holy See press office and Barbara Jatta as director of the Vatican Museums, the third largest exhibition space in the world, date back to 2016. Less “historic” are the appointments of undersecretaries, roles already assigned to female figures by Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. However, Pope Francis is the Pontiff who has appointed the most, including Gabriella Gambino and Linda Ghisoni to the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life and Sister Silvana Piro to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA). Particularly significant is the itinerary of the Council for the Economy, which in 2020 welcomed six women out of a total of fifteen members, while in 2021 the economist Sister Alessandra Smerilli was appointed undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, of which she became secretary the following year. It is also very important that the Dicastery for Bishops, on which the appointment of prelates from all over the world depends, includes three women: Sister Petrini, Mother Yvonne Reungoat, former Superior General of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and the Argentine consecrated virgin María Lía Zervino, former president of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations.
Going back in history, the first woman with a position in the Roman Curia was appointed by Paul VI in 1967. This was the Australian laywoman Rosemary Goldie to whom Pope Montini entrusted the post of under-secretary to the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Returning to the present day, all Curia appointments decided before his election were confirmed ad interim by Leo XIV. Pope Prevost in fact decided not to proceed immediately with new appointments or replacements, preferring a period of reflection and prayer before making any changes.
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