Photo of the Week

The Roman Curia flooded with women

On July 13, 2022, Pope Bergoglio named three women, pictured above, for the Vatican's Congregation for the Bishops. They will have a say about who should be chosen to be a Bishop.
The three women are:

1. Sister Rafaella Petrini, above top, an Italian Franciscan nun who already has two other positions in the Roman Curia: She is General Secretary of the Governorate of Vatican City State and a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Now she has become a member of the Congregation for the Bishops.

2. Mother Yvonne Reungoat, above bottom left, a French Salesian nun who is a General Superior of the Salesian Religious Women. In 2019, Francis made her a member of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life.

3. Dr. Maria Lia Zervino, above bottom right, an Argentine lay woman who is President General of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organization – a feminist organization that strives for equality for women in the Church and society. Recently Zervino sent an incendiary letter to Francis urging him to appoint more women to decision-making positions and a Synod for the entire "people of God."

The nomination of these women last week raised a lot of media attention. However, Francis has already appointed many other women to the Roman Curia, following the policy of the previous Conciliar Popes. The list below of seven other women, all named recently by Francis, is only a sample of the multitude of women who are flooding the Roman Curia.

4. Sister Alessadra Smerilli, below first row, an Italian nun of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. She is General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, a consulter for the Governorate of the Vatican City State and ad interim-Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

5. Sister Carmen Ros Nortes, below second row left, a Spanish nun of the Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation, was named by Francis to be a member of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

6. Sister Nathalie Becquart, second row right, is a French nun of the Xavieres Institute, who was named Undersecretary for the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

7. Dr. Gabriella Gambino, third row, a lay professor at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences at the Lateran University, was appointed Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life in 2017.

8. Dr. Linda Ghisoni, fourth row left, a lay member of the Roman Rota; was named by Francis in 2017 as Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, and in 2018 was made a consulter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

9. Dr. Francesca di Giovanni, fourth row right, a lay member of the Focolare Movement, has worked since 1993 in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See; in 2020 Francis appointed her Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs.

10. Prof. Barbara Jatta, fifth row, a lay woman who teaches Art History, was appointed by Francis in 2016 as Director of the Vatican Museums.

We see that the feminist goals of Pope Bergoglio seems to be the same as those affirmed by the German Bishops, who declared that their ideal is to have between one third to 50% of women leading the Church.

How far are we from women priests, Bishops and Cardinals?

Photos from the Vatican & Internet

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Posted July 17, 2022

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