Simona Brambilla

Sister
Simona Brambilla
MC
portrait photo of Brambilla
Brambilla in 2011
Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 January 2025
Appointed byPope Francis
Secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
In office
October 2023 – January 2025
Appointed byPope Francis
Personal details
Born (1965-03-27) 27 March 1965 (age 59)
Monza, Italy
Alma materPontifical Gregorian University
OccupationNun, missionary

Simona Brambilla MC (born 27 March 1965) is an Italian Catholic nun who has served as Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life since 2025. She is a member of the Consolata Missionaries and is the first woman to head a department of the Roman Curia.

Brambilla led the women's branch of the Consolata Missionaries from 2011 to 2023 and became the first female secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life in October 2023.

Biography

Brambilla was born in Monza, in Lombardy, on 27 March 1965. She obtained a diploma in nursing 1986[1] and worked at the L. Mandic Hospital in Merate (Province of Lecco).[2] She entered the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of Consolata in 1988 and made her first religious profession in 1991. She received a licentiate in psychology from the Institute of Psychology of the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1998.[1]

Beginning in 1999, after making her final profession, she was responsible for youth ministry at the Macua Xirima Study Center in Maua, Mozambique.[1]

She taught from 2002 to 2006 at the Gregorian's Institute of Psychology and earned a doctorate in psychology there in 2008,[1] with a thesis on evangelization and inculturation in Mozambique.[3]

She served as general councilor from 2005 to 2011.[1]

She was elected to a six-year term as superior general of the women's branch of the Consolata Missionaries on 7 June 2011[3] and elected to a second term in 2017,[1] which concluded in May 2023.[4]

Pope Francis chose her to participate in the 2023 Synod of Bishops on Synodality.[5]

On 8 July 2019, Pope Francis named her and six others as the first women members of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.[6][7] On 7 October 2023, Pope Francis appointed her the first female secretary of that Dicastery.[8][1] She is the second woman to hold this rank in a dicastery of the Roman Curia after Alessandra Smerilli at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, while two other women hold the same title at other departments (not dicasteries): Nathalie Becquart at the Synod of Bishops and Raffaella Petrini at the Governorate of Vatican City State.[9] On December 13, 2024, Pope Francis named her and María Lía Zervino along with two cardinals as his appointees to the 16th Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod. They were the first women appointed to that role.[10][11]

On 6 January 2025, Pope Francis named her Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.[12] With this appointment she became the first woman to head a department of the Roman Curia.[13]

Selected writings

  • "Ferro e Fuoco". Consolata Missionaries. 10 June 2022. Insights from the experience of a women's missionary congregation in dialogue with Teresa of Lisieux

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Rinunce e nomine (continuazione), 07.10.2023" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  2. ^ Brambilla, Simona. "Intervista con Suor Simona Brambilla". Unione Internazionale delle Superiore Generali (Interview) (in Italian). Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Sr. Simona Brambilla: Nuova Superiore Generale M.C." Missionari della Consolata. 8 June 2011. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Suor Simona Brambilla, nuovo segretario del Dicastero Istituti di vita consacrata". Missionari della Consolata (in Italian). 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  5. ^ "16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops: List of Participants" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  6. ^ Gagliarducci, Andrea (8 July 2019). "Papa Francesco, sette donne tra i membri della Congregazione dei religiosi" (in Italian). ACI Stampa. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  7. ^ "Resignations and Appointments, 08.07.2019" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 8 July 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Pope names sister as first woman secretary of dicastery for religious | Global Sisters Report". www.globalsistersreport.org.
  9. ^ "Papa Francesco ha nominato suor Simona Brambilla segretaria del Dicastero per la Vita Consacrata". Faro di Roma (in Italian). 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Synod: Pope appoints Council members, including 2 women". Vatican News. 13 December 2024. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  11. ^ "Two women join Vatican synod planning council for first time". America. 13 December 2024. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  12. ^ "Rinunce e nomine, 06.01.2025" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 6 January 2025. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  13. ^ "Pope appoints Sr. Simona Brambilla as Vatican's first female prefect". Vatican News. 6 January 2025. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
Additional sources
  • Brambilla, Simona (15 March 2021). "The Grace of interculturality". Xaverians.
  • Brambilla, Simona (January–February 2022). "Il "Minatore" Umile e Appassionato". Festival della Missione (in Italian): 56–60. On the Macua Xirima Study Center and Mozambique.