STILL OUTNUMBERED

Pope’s Old Friend From Argentina Is First Female on Vatican Bishops Board

Argentine María Lía Zervino, president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations, wrote to the pope last year to ask him to include more women in the Vatican hierarchy.

Pope Francis made good on his promise to include more women in Vatican affairs on Wednesday with the appointment of a lay woman he has known since his days in Argentina and two high-ranking nuns to the Dicastery for Bishops, which oversees bishops around the world. It is the first time a lay woman has ever been appointed to any dicastery—which is a department of Vatican affairs—and the first time any women have been named to this particular entity. Sister Raffaella Petrini, who is already the secretary general of the governorate of the Vatican City State, and Sister Yvonne Reungoat, who is the former superior general of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians will serve alongside Maria Lia Zervino, president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations and longtime friend of Franci,s who urged him last year to include women in the “people’s church.” The women join eight cardinals, an archbishop, a bishop, and a priest on the important dicastery, which oversees the work of more than 5,300 bishops worldwide.