Pope Francis has announced that he will appoint women to the Congregation of Bishops

In the third part of his interview with the Reuters news agency, Pope Francis talked about his plans for expanding the role of women in the Roman Curia, the new apostolic constitution beginning with the "Praedicate evangelium" and which Vatican institutions could appoint secular leaders, which can be read on the Vatican News portal.

Pope Francis has announced that he intends to appoint two women to the Congregation for Bishops, who will therefore participate in the process of selecting new bishops. The Pope announced this in an interview with Reuters correspondent Philip Pullella. In the third part of the conversation, he answered the questions that focused on the presence of women in the Vatican and the new apostolic constitution beginning with the "Praedicate evangelium", which reforms the Roman Curia, as well as on which dicasteries (Vatican offices) could in the future be assigned to lay men or entrust to a woman.

“I'm open if the opportunity arises. Currently, the governorate has a deputy governor who is a nun. Now two women will join the Congregation of Bishops, the bishop selection committee. In this way, things open up a little," noted Pope Francis. He then added that in the future he sees the possibility of appointing lay people to certain Vatican offices, such as the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, the Dicastery for Culture and Education or the leadership of the Vatican Apostolic Library. The Pope recalled that last year he appointed Sister Raffaella Petrini to the second leading position of the Vatican Government, making her the first woman to hold this position.

Several other lay women already hold senior positions in the Vatican, including Barbara Jatta, the first female director of the Vatican Museums; Linda Ghisoni and Gabriella Gambino, both undersecretaries of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life; and Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Furthermore, Nataša Govekar is the director of the Theological-Pastoral Office of the Dicastery for Communication; while Cristiane Murray holds the post of deputy director of the Holy See Press Room. All of them were appointed by the current Pope.

Viktória Somogyi's entire article on Vatican News .

Featured image: Pope Francis and Sister Raffaella Petrini