A woman has become head of a Vatican dicastery for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis appointed Sister Simona Brambilla, MC, as the new Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The Italian nun was previously secretary of the dicastery.
The Holy Father has also appointed Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB, who was Rector Major of the Salesians, as Pro-Prefect of the same dicastery.
Sister Brambilla succeeds Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, 77, who has headed the dicastery since 2011.
From 2002 to 2006 she was a professor at the Institute of Psychology of the Pontifical Gregorian University. From 2005 to 2011 she was General Councillor of the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters. In 2011 she was elected Superior General of the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, and re-elected in 2017, until May 2023.