Third Female Prefect in the Roman Curia

This is Leo’s second appointment of a woman to a top-level role, following that of the prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, the young laywoman Montse Alvarado. However, she is the third female prefect in the Curia following the appointment by Pope Francis of Sister Simona Brambilla, who has been head of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, since 6 January 2025. At the time, Francis accompanied this appointment with that of Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime as pro-prefect of the Dicastery.

The same is now happening with Cardinal Fabio Baggio who – again according to today’s bulletin from the Holy See Press Office – is moving from the role of undersecretary for Integral Human Development to that of pro-prefect of the Dicastery, with special responsibility for the Laudato si’ Centre for Higher Education. Baggio will therefore work alongside Prefect Smerilli. Both will take up their posts on 1 September.

Work at the Vatican

An economist, academic and lecturer at the Auxilium in Milan, committed to issues of social justice, the civil economy and inclusion, Sister Alessandra Smerilli – born in Vasto, a graduate of Roma Tre University and holder of a PhD in Economics from the United Kingdom – has been a Salesian with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians since 1997 and has from the outset held positions of great importance within the Vatican’s extensive organisational structure. This began in 2019, when she was appointed Councillor of the Vatican City State, and continued in 2020 when she was called upon to coordinate the economics section of the Vatican’s Covid-19 Task Force – the body established by the Pope to respond promptly and comprehensively to the health and socio-economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Commission was established and operated within the DSSUI, where Sister Alessandra became undersecretary for the Faith and Development sector in 2021 and, a few months later, ad interim secretary; finally, in 2022, she was definitively appointed ‘secretary’ (and not ‘female secretary’, as she has always been keen to point out).

The Dicastery’s massive undertaking

Over recent years, the nun has worked alongside Czerny on the massive undertaking carried out by the Dicastery, based at Palazzo San Calisto in the heart of the Trastevere district, which in 2017 saw the merger of the Pontifical Councils ‘Iustitia et Pax’, Cor Unum, the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and the Pastoral Care of Health Workers, brought together with the sole aim of promoting the human person and the dignity of all. A sort of Ministry of Social Policies, therefore, with responsibilities in social, humanitarian, health and environmental matters. Indeed, numerous projects have been implemented across the five continents under what is most commonly referred to as ‘Integral Development’, organised internally into three sections based on areas of expertise, in which many highly qualified female staff members work: Listening and Dialogue, Reflection and Research, Communication and Outreach.

Among the challenges and issues addressed by the Dicastery – alongside the poor, the environment, humanitarian aid, disarmament, trade, migrants, finance, war and justice – the issue of Artificial Intelligence has also been added in recent years. The DSSUI is, in fact, a member of the newly formed Inter-Dicasterial Commission for AI, established in May to facilitate the exchange of information and projects on this revolution of our time, to which Pope Leo dedicated the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.

Source: Vatican News