For the first time ever, a woman has been named Prefect of a Roman Dicastery: Sister Simona Brambilla, of the Missionary Sisters of the Consolata, who had been secretary of the Dicastery for Religious ("Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life") since 2023, has been elevated to the position of Prefect.
As such, she will be the ultimate power, after the pope himself, over hundreds of thousands of religious in the world, including thousands upon thousands of priests (and bishops who are members of religious orders). As for how that goes with the hierarchic constitution of the Church, we will leave it up to the thoughts of our readers.
Maybe as a remedial solution to the problem, in the same Bolettino edition for today that included her appointment, Francis named as Pro-Prefect (not just secretary) Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, a Salesian.
