Never before have so many women worked in the Vatican as during the pontificate of Pope Francis. In the past ten years, more than 300 women have been hired in Vatican City and the Holy See.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Vatican News published a study on the growth in the number of women working inside the Vatican, which currently stands at 1,165.
March 13 will mark ten years since Francis was elected Pope, a period in which the presence of women in the world’s smallest country has increased considerably.
According to the study, the percentage of women working in the Vatican and in the Holy See has increased in the past ten years from almost 19.2% to the current 23.4%.
Specifically, the percentage of women holding positions in the Roman Curia has increased from 19.3% to 26.1%, meaning that more than one in four employees of the Holy See is now a woman.
Also, on the orders of the Holy Father, more women have been hired for positions of greater responsibility.
Currently, five women hold the position of undersecretary, and one woman has the role of secretary, forming part of the management team along with the prefect of the Dicastery.
In particular, Pope Francis appointed a woman as secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development for the first time in 2021. This is the Italian religious Alessandra Smerilli, who holds the highest position ever held by a woman in the history of the Holy See.
For their part, the undersecretaries are located in the Dicasteries for Institutes of Consecrated Life, Laity, Family and Life, Culture and Education, and Secretariat of State.
Among the appointments made by Pope Francis in the State of the Vatican City are Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums since 2016, and the religious Raffaella Petrini, Secretary General of the Governorate.
He has also appointed seven women as superiors of the Dicastery for Religious and six laywomen to the Council for the Economy. In addition, in 2022, the Pope appointed two religious and one laywoman as members of the Dicastery for Bishops.
It should be noted that the appointment of senior officials in the Curia began with the pontificate of Paul VI, who appointed Rosemarie Goldie as Vice Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Pope John Paul II also appointed a woman to head the sub-secretariat of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
