Vatican City, July 13, 2022: Pope Francis on July 13 created history by naming a lay woman and two nuns to the Vatican office that vets bishop nominations.
The Dicastery for Bishops oversees the work of most of the Church’s 5,300 bishops, who run dioceses around the world.
The dicastery’s 14 members include cardinals, bishops, priests and now women. They meet periodically to evaluate proposed new bishops whose names are forwarded by Vatican ambassadors. The ambassadors usually come up with three candidates for each opening after consulting with local Church members.
The pope still makes the final call and can bypass candidates proposed by his ambassadors and then vetted by the dicastery. But the addition of women into the consultation process is nevertheless significant and a response to calls to break up the all-male clerical hierarchy of the Vatican and demands that women have a greater say in Church decision-making.
The new members are Sister Raffaella Petrini, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist who already holds a high-ranking Vatican position as the secretary general of the Vatican City State, which runs the Vatican Museums and other administrative parts of the territory.
Also named was Sister Yvonne Reungoat, former superior general of the Daughters of Mary the Helper, also known as the Salesian Sisters. The lay woman is Maria Lia Zervino, president of a Catholic women’s umbrella group, the World Union of Female Catholic Organizations.
Church doctrine reserves the priesthood for men, given Christ’s apostles were male. Women have often complained they have a second-class status in the Church, even though they do the lion’s share of its work running schools, hospitals and passing the faith from generation to generation.
The Vatican Press Office has published the Pope’s latest appointments to the Dicastery in a statement.
The nomination of Zervino also marks the first appointment of a laywoman to the Vatican Dicastery.
Here is the full list of the Pope’s appointments as Dicastery members:
1. Cardinal Anders Arborelius, OCD, Bishop of Stockholm (Sweden)
2. Cardinal Jose F. Advincula, Archbishop of Manila (Philippines)
3. Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church
4. Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops
5. Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
6. Cardinal-elect Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy
7. Cardinal-elect Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille (France)
8. Cardinal-elect Oscar Cantoni, Bishop of Como (Italy)
9. Archbishop Dražen Kutleša, Archbishop of Split-Makarska (Croatia)
10. Bishop Paul Desmond Tighe, Secretary of the former Pontifical Council for Culture
11. Father Dom Donato Ogliari, Abbot of the Abbey of San Paolo fuori le Mura and Apostolic Administrator of the Territorial Abbey of Montecassino (Italy)
12. Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, Secretary General of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
13. Sister Yvonne Reungoat, FMA, former Superior General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians
14. Doctor Maria Lia Zervino, President of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations
It’s a good beginning. Wishing Maria Lia Zervino, Sister Raffaella Petrini, and Sister Yvonne Reungoat strength and stamina. God bless.
To me the appointment of three women (two nuns and one lay woman) by the Pope is just an “eye-wash”. Being a prophetic Pope the world expects him to go beyond these “simple” appointments of women to the clerical/admin positions. Look at the list of the members in the Vatican Dicastery. There are nine Cardinals, one Archbishop and one Priest. What will these three women (two nuns have taken the vow of obedience) and one lay woman do in front of the majority male members? Do you think that their opinion/views will be accepted by these men? Very doubtful. Their voices will definitely be suppressed by these “powerful men”. These women will remain in the Committee as “passive listeners”. Nothing more!
Already “horse-trading” has become quite common during papal elections. The internal politics in the Vatican is dirtier/worse than the politics outside. So, in this scenario, the Pope must start initiating concrete steps to “cleanse the dirty politics/corruption/horse-trading” within the Vatican. This is the need of the hour. Pope Francis is still counted one among the “male dominated clergy” in the Catholic Church. He needs to become a trend-setter. Let us hope that God inspires the Pope to promote women priesthood during his tenure.