Just a week before his admittance to the Gemelli Hospital, the Holy Father underscored in an interview that “Opening the work in the Curia to women is important.” 

“It definitely makes us proud,” Archivist of the Dicastery of Culture and Education, Giulia Cullurà shared. “We also have the weight of what we do. Why? Because we are in a mission, in a common project, which is service to the universal Church and service to the Holy Father.” 

Giulia Cullurà has been working as archivist in various Vatican departments since 2010. Initially in the Propaganda Fide, then in the Pontifical Council of Cor Unum and for 2.5 years in the Dicastery for Culture and Education. 

Speaking of her work Cullurà said, “These are state documents, documents with a high historical content, unique and unrepeatable. And it's really exciting for me to work here and to be able to read and touch these documents, the decisive stages in the life of the entire Church.” 

Women have always played an important role in the Church. Pope Francis made it a point of his pontificate to also appoint women into leadership roles inside the Vatican. 

Barbara Jatta, Director of the Vatican Museums, explained, “When 27 or 28 years ago, I was appointed, I was hired in the Vatican Library, I was the third woman to work in the Vatican Library. And when I left the Vatican Library 20 years after, half of the staff [were] already women.” 

In the Vatican City State the presence of women over the past decade has increased significantly to 1,165 female collaborators. Never before has the number of female employees and their  representation within the total staff been so high. 

In January 2017, Italian art historian Barbara Jatta was appointed by Pope Francis as the Director of the Vatican museums, the highest-ranking lay post for a woman in the Vatican to date. 

Telling her story, Jatta said, “When, once, after two years, I was in Mexico City, I was lecturing in [a] university, Catholic University of Mexico City. And after my conference, two girls came to me, two students came to me and they said to me: ‘I want to shake your hands. I want to know you because for us you are an example. You are a mother, a woman, a wife. But you also follow your passion and you have a peak and apical role in probably the best museum in the world.’” 

She shared, “And there I said, oh, I can be an example for young students, for young girls. And so that's how I realized the importance of my appointment and the incredible and amazing choice that Pope Francis made for me. 

During Pope Francis's pontificate, the growth of the number of women employees has been quite remarkable, growing from 19 to 24 percent of the 4,000 total employees. The percentage of those working for the Roman Curia is even higher, reaching 26%. Five women have held the rank of undersecretary and one that of secretary of a department. The General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, for example, has a female undersecretary, Sister Nathalie Becquart. 

Sister shared with EWTN, “Well, I would say first, it was really a surprise. What it first means, you know, when you receive a call, from Pope Francis, it's an appointment from Pope Francis. So it means for me a call of the Church, a call of God.” 

Sister Nathalie, who has held her role since 2021, is convinced that in the midst of differences between men and women, a profound dialogue can arise that will simply enrich the mutual collaboration. 

Sister highlighted, “Women bring you kind of activity. Diversity. So, I always highlight that that's been my experience, or my pastoral experience when you have team, especially leadership type team with men and women, with also the diversity of vocations, you are always better because you cross read the questions and you take better decisions when you don't have only one lens to look at the things.” 

Sister Simona Brambilla is the first woman ever to head a dicastery, an entire Vatican department. She was appointed in January as Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life. She is not the only woman religious entrusted with a lot of power in the Vatican. 

From March 1st Sister Raffaella Petrini became the President of the Governorate of Vatican City State. The appointment of Sister Petrini represents a new approach to the governance of the Holy See and confirms the Pontiff's openness to female leadership roles. 

Cullurà underscored, “There is a new way of integrating ourselves into the Catholic Church. And in this new way we can sincerely and freely express our professionalism, our working qualities, our inclinations, our abilities, and it is precisely in this new advent that the role of Pope Francis is crucial."

Adapted by Jacob Stein

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