For the first time, the Pope has appointed a woman as head of the Vatican’s overseas religious orders office.

However, Sister Simona Brambilla’s appointment wasn’t without controversy.

The Crux journalist Elise Ann Allen told The Pat Kenny Show that there had been an unusual element to her promotion.

“She has been appointed Prefect – so essentially the president of this Dicastery [department] - alongside what the Vatican has called a ‘Pro-prefect’, who is a cardinal by the name of Ángel Fernández Artime,” she said.

“He used to be the head of the Salesian order, so he himself belongs to a religious community.

“This caused a bit of a stir when the Vatican announced it, because it’s kind of an unusual thing to appoint a Prefect of this Dicastery and a Pro-prefect.

"It usually doesn’t happen.”

Pope Francis blesses crowds in The Vatican, 4-9-16. Image: Linda Schaefer / Alamy

Ms Allen said that the issue is that some Church officials believe you must be an ordained priest to hold Sr Brambilla’s position.

“There are some canon lawyers and ecclesial experts who believe that because the heads of Vatican departments exercise authority - they share in the authority of the Pope - that you have to belong to holy orders,” she said.

“[They believe] you have to be ordained a priest in order to be able to make authoritative decisions in the name of the Pope, who is of course a priest ordained with holy orders.

“So, what Pope Francis has done to essentially sidestep any doubts that people might have about the validity of the decisions that Sister Simona Brambilla might take is that he’s named as Prefect and he named Cardinal Artime as Pro-prefect.

“So, he can basically sign the decrees that she wants to issue.”

Women in power

According to Ms Allen, Pope Francis has made efforts to appoint more women to positions of authority recently.

“The Pope had started kind of opening this door several years ago,” she said.

“Then the last couple of years, he’s named several women to positions of authority... and he’s also had women, not in leadership roles in the Dicastery for Bishops – which is the department that vets and selects Bishops around the world – but there’s a large several member panel of experts that vet candidates.

“Traditionally those have all been men but the Pope in the last year or two appointed three women to that panel.”

However, Ms Allen said that Sr Brambilla’s appointment is the most significant appointment so far.

Featured image: Sister Simona Brambilla during the presentation of the Extraordinary Missionary Month. Image: Independent Photo Agency Srl / Alamy. October 1, 2019