Pope Francis on Saturday announced a historic change allowing anyone baptized into Catholicism, whether male or female, to head Vatican departments.
For centuries, Vatican leadership positions were held by male clerics, usually cardinals or bishops.
The new constitution, which amends rules for the Vatican’s central administration, called the Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), took more than nine years to complete. It was launched on the ninth anniversary of Pope Francis’ inauguration and will take effect on June 5, replacing the previous document issued in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
The document says that “the pope, bishops and other ordained ministers are not the only evangelizers in the Church”, adding that lay men and women “must have roles of governance and responsibility” in the Curia.
The constitution’s principles section says that “any member of the faithful can head a dicastery (curia department) or body” if the pope decides they are qualified and appoints them.
The 1988 constitution stated that departments, with few exceptions, should be headed by a cardinal or bishop and assisted by a secretary, specialists and administrators.
The new constitution makes no distinction between laymen and laywomen, although the appointment of a layperson depended on the “particular competence, power of government and function” of the department.
The general constitution allows departments to have their own internal constitutions.
At least two of them, the department for bishops and the department for clergy, will continue to be headed by men because only men can be priests in the Catholic Church, experts said.
The department for consecrated life, responsible for the religious order, could be headed by a nun in the future, experts said.
In an interview with Reuters in 2018, the pope revealed that he had selected a woman to head a Vatican economics department, but she could not accept the position for personal reasons.
The new constitution says the role of lay Catholics in governing the Curia is “essential” because of their familiarity with family life and “social reality”.
Last year, Francis for the first time named a woman to the number two position in the government of Vatican City, making Sister Raffaella Petrini the highest-ranking woman in the smallest state in the world.
Also last year, he appointed Italian nun Sister Alessandra Smerilli to the interim post of secretary at the Vatican’s development office, which deals with issues of justice and peace.
In addition, Francis has appointed Nathalie Becquart, a French member of the Xaviere Missionary Sisters, as co-undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, a department that prepares major meetings of world bishops held every few years.
