Vatican City gets a female Secretary-General

The appointment took place last Thursday, the Austrian news channel ÖRF reports.

Petrini was born in Rome in 1969. She belongs to the order Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, founded in the USA in 1973. Petrini has a degree in political science and a doctorate from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas ("Angelicum") in Rome, where she is currently a lecturer. She has been a member of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples since 2005.

In her new office, the Italian is responsible for the administration in the Vatican State and thus for the supervision of the museums, the post office and the police. Bishops had traditionally held the post of Secretary-General in the Vatican City State.

More women

Francis has repeatedly said that women should play a more significant role in the Catholic Church. In January, he had changed canon law to allow women more roles in worship. In February, he appointed the French Nathalie Becquart as Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops. She thus became the first woman in the history of the Catholic Church to be given voting rights at the Synod of Bishops.

In 2016, the Pope had appointed a commission to investigate the role of early Christian women deacons in the Catholic Church. Since the investigation did not produce precise results, Francis set up a new working group last year.

Executive power

In September, Francis appointed Bishop Fernando Vergez Alzaga (76) as the new head of government for Vatican City. The clergyman, who comes from Salamanca in Spain, was previously Secretary-General of the Government of the Vatican State.

The Vatican Governorate was founded in 1939 and exercises executive power in the Vatican. It consists of a commission of seven cardinals, headed by a president. The Governorate, in turn, reports to the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City. The head of state is Pope Francis.