Simona Brambilla | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Brambilla in 2019 | |
| Prefect of theDicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life | |
| Assumed office 6 January 2025 | |
| Appointed by | Pope Francis |
| Preceded by | João Braz de Aviz |
| Secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life | |
| In office October 2023 – January 2025 | |
| Appointed by | Pope Francis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1965-03-27)27 March 1965 (age 60) Monza, Italy |
| Alma mater | Pontifical Gregorian University |
| Occupation | Nun, missionary |
Simona BrambillaMC (born 27 March 1965) is an Italian Catholicreligious sister who serves as Prefect of theDicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in 2025. She is a member of theConsolata Missionaries and is the first woman to head adepartment of theRoman 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 2023.
Brambilla was born inMonza, inLombardy, on 27 March 1965. She obtained a diploma in nursing 1986,[1] and worked at theL. Mandic Hospital inMerate (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 alicentiate in psychology from the Institute of Psychology of thePontifical Gregorian University in 1998.[1]
Beginning in 1999, after making her final profession, Brambilla was responsible for youth ministry at the Macua Xirima Study Center inMaua,Mozambique.[1] She taught from 2002 to 2006 at the Gregorian's Institute of Psychology and earned adoctorate in psychology there in 2008,[1] with a thesis on evangelization and inculturation in Mozambique.[3] She served as general councilor for the Consolata Missionaries from 2005 to 2011.[1] Brambilla was elected to a six-year term as superior general of the women's branch of theConsolata Missionaries on 7 June 2011,[3] and elected to a second term in 2017,[1] which concluded in May 2023.[4] In July 2023, Pope Francis chose Brambilla to participate in theSynod on Synodality.[5]
On 8 July 2019, Pope Francis named her and six others as the first women members of theDicastery 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 theRoman Curia afterAlessandra Smerilli at theDicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, while two other women hold the same title at other departments (not dicasteries):Nathalie Becquart at theSynod of Bishops andRaffaella Petrini at theGovernorate of Vatican City State.[9]
On December 13, 2024, Pope Francis named her andMaría 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] Her term was suspended automatically with the death ofPope Francis,[14] but was renewed provisionally byPope Leo XIV.[15]
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life 6 January 2025 – present | Incumbent |
Authority control databases: National |
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