Pope Francis recently made history by appointing a nun to lead a dicastery for the first time. Now, he has announced another significant high-ranking female appointment at the Vatican: a nun will head the Vatican Governorate
Governorship of Vatican City State
After reassuring about the state of his arm following his fall and injury on Thursday, the Holy Father revealed that from March, following the resignation of Cardinal Fernando Vergéz Alzaga who will turn 80 on March 1, the current “number 2” of the Vatican Governorate, Sister Raffaela Petrini, will head it. Yet another woman religious, therefore, at the head of an important administration, following the appointment of Sister Simona Brambilla to the post of Prefect of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life.
“The work of women in the Curia is something that has progressed slowly and has been understood. Today we have many,” commented the Pope, listing the missions entrusted to female figures in the Vatican, and added ”in the Governatorate, the vice-governor who will become governor in March is a religious woman. Women know how to administer better than we do,” he concluded.
The Governorate of Vatican City State is a body that exercises executive functions on behalf of the Pope.
Raffaella Petrini was born in Rome on January 15, 1969, belongs to the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist (FSE), has a degree in Political Science and obtained her doctorate at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, where she taught.
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
